This session will consider three papers about devolution, political will and action, where we will be discussing approaches to tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester and in Wales, and different approaches to rent controls across the UK. The full abstracts are below.
Presentations from these authors and a live Q&A session are available to all HSA members. Book here
1. Peter Mackie and Tamsin Stirling From words to action: the second decade of Welsh devolution and homelessness
In 2009, Fitzpatrick et al edited a book compiled of a collection of accounts on devolved homelessness policy across the UK during the first decade of devolution (1999-2009). Clapham et al’s (2009) chapter on Wales highlighted the tendency for a new Welsh Government to strategise and develop policy with less focus on delivery and impact. A number of factors were at play, including limited powers to legislate and a government accustomed to administering Westminster policy in Wales. Yet there were clearly signs of a different direction of travel from England, signalling a more socially just approach (e.g. priority need accorded to prison-leavers). This presentation will focus on the second decade of devolution in Wales as it relates to homelessness, arguing that the Welsh Government, and the homelessness sector more broadly, has moved from planning to action. We will reflect on the main actions that have taken place which include the pioneering Part 2 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 on the prevention of homelessness and legislation and other action to improve standards within the PRS. As the second decade ended, Welsh Government once again turned to a period of reflection and planning, commissioning a review of Priority Need and establishing a homelessness action group to focus on what action will be needed to end homelessness in Wales. Finally, no examination of devolution can ignore the fact that devolution is partial; for the entirety of the second decade, the underlying context is a dismantling of welfare which is predominantly not devolved and impacts heavily on the ability to end homelessness in Wales.
2. Kenneth Gibb, Alex Marsh & Adriana Soaita Rent Controls: Unpacking UK and Devolved Debates
The policy of rent controls, with all its ambiguities and multiple dimensions, has returned to the centre of current debate. It remains a polarising topic. Across the UK different stances towards rent regulation are emerging in response to perceived and real problems in the private rented sector. Yet, rent controls are contentious conceptually and empirically, as well as in terms of policy design and practical impact. The evidence remains contested – so perhaps this lack of clarity over the efficacy of rent regulation is understandable. In this paper, we draw on ideas from regulatory and systems theories, as well as from the evolving debate in applied economics in the related area of the minimum wage. These ideas are used to help examine emerging findings from an international evidence review on rent regulations. Using these multiple lenses, we also consider a range of actual or potential policies currently ‘in play’: - Local rent pressure zones in Scotland; - Labour Scotland and Labour UK proposals for rent caps and additional local powers; -Other relevant, and arguably transferable, international policies. The paper concludes by summarising the current state of play, considering the role of evidence in shaping policy towards rent regulation, and reflecting on potential future directions for policy.
3. Annika Hjelmskog DevoManc and the role of housing partners in Greater Manchester’s population health plans
Housing is widely accepted as an important determinant of health, both in the way that our living environment directly impacts our physical and mental wellbeing, and for the ways that housing organisations (this research focusses on housing associations) are increasingly involved in providing wider services to influence health outcomes. This paper examines how the housing sector has been incorporated into Greater Manchester’s health and social care devolution. Unlike elsewhere in England, the GM city-region now has control of its health and social care budgets, and is drawing to the end of its transformation period. Housing providers in the GM boroughs have to a greater or lesser extent been involved in this process, and are part of a wide range of health focussed activities, both social and clinical. Their efforts include the provision of social care, telecare, counselling, occupational therapy, libraries, nurseries, food and diet interventions, physical activity, hospital discharge, step-up step-down facilities, and support for substance misuse, amongst others. These services have in some instances been an extension of the housing association’s existing work, and sometimes directly commissioned by their CCGs or the local/combined authority. Taking case studies from across the city-region, this research attempts to assess how successful this involvement of housing associations in ‘DevoManc’ has been. Are these pilot projects now on sustainable footing? Do the voices of the housing providers carry equal weight to their clinical partners? Or has this desire for transformation come at a time when funding shortages and crises in urgent care mean that prevention of ill-health must yet again take a back seat to the cure?