As the summer tourist season ends, new reports show the economic and social costs of Britain’s hidden housing crisis.
Businesses in London are being called upon to work with housing charities to tackle homelessness, following a survey in which one in six tourists said that the sight of homeless people had spoilt their visit in some way. London’s largest homelessness charity, St Mongo Association, commissioned an NOP survey of 358 tourists this summer, releasing the results on August 28. Four in ten visitors also said they thought the sight put other foreign tourists off coming. Foreign tourists spend over ?5 billion in London each year and the London Tourist Board is trying to increase the numbers coming. Contact Tony Trueman, St Mongo, on 0181 600 3003
NO HOUSING, HIGH COST
One in twenty of young people ages 16 to 25 in urban areas is homeless, more than 140,000 people, according the report of the Inquiry into Preventing Youth Homeless, published on September 16. Chaired by former Independent editor, Andreas Whittam-Smith, the Inquiry criticised withdrawal of housing benefit from young people and highlighted the high economic price of homelessness. It calculates the cost in public expenditure terms is ?4,100 per young person over two years, compared to ?1,700 if they could still claim housing benefit to finance their own accommodation. When the wider economic factors are included, such as the chances of gaining work once they have an address, the net economic benefit is estimated at ?7,800 over two years. The report, entitled We don’t choose to be homeless…, marked the start of youth homelessness week on September 16, a campaign backed by ten charities. Companies providing support include Halifax Building Society, McKinsey and Company, J. Laing, Coopers & Lybrand, Rentokil Initial, Shell UK and the TSB Foundations. Contact Keith Kemp, CHAR, on 0171 833 2071
EXPANDING FOYERS
Six new Foyers for Youth opened during September, bringing the total in the UK to 46. Foyers provide a package of accommodation, training and job search for homeless and unemployed young people. Some 2,400 places are now provided, with a further 40 projects being planned, and companies like Grand Metropolitan and Rentokil Initial have provided substantial backing. Contact Don Macdonald, Foyer Federation, on 0171 377 9789
SOCIAL HOUSING, PRIVATE MONEY
Housing minister, David Curry MP, announced on September 19 that private investment in social housing has exceeded ?10 billion over the last eight years, providing an extra 120,000 homes. The money comes in loans to Britain’s 2,200 housing associations. The top three lenders have been NatWest, Halifax and Nationwide. During 1996/97, the government anticipates private financing of ?857 million, alongside ?1 billion in public funds promised through the Housing Corporation. However this is insufficient to achieve the target of 60,000 new units of social housing set by the government and does not contribute to the backlog of repairs required by existing council housing, estimated to exceed ?20 billion. Contact DoE Enquiries on 0171 276 0900
CHRISTMAS CRISIS
The homelessness charity, Crisis, hopes to raise ?100,000 from companies who donate the costs saved by cancelling Christmas cards, sending greetings instead via an advert in the Financial Times. The newspaper is donating a full page in the week beginning December 9 along with six promotional adverts from September onwards. Among companies already pledging support are solicitors, Linklaters & Paines, and NatWest Bank. NatWest Group chairman, Lord Alexander, is chairman of Crisis. In its financial year ending on May 31, 1996, Crisis raised over ?300,000 from companies. Contact Liz Markus, Crisis, on 0171 392 9007
AFTER SCHOOL SUPPORT
A foyer in London providing housing and job training to young people has opened its training centre to local schools, thanks to a grant from BT/Princes Trust and the Corporation of London’s Bridge House Estates Trust Fund. Run by the Peabody Trust, the Study Support Initiative provides after school hours activities, such as specialist tutors, study advice, IT equipment and help with job search. Contact Hilary Carter, Peabody Trust, on 0171 922 0202
comment
The tip of the housing crisis iceberg is the young people sleeping rough on the streets of our great cities. Highly visible and an affront to a civilised society. The submerged but bigger part is Britain’s steadily decaying stock of social housing, affordable homes for rent from not-for-profit landlords, whether councils or housing associations.
Few companies have made housing a significant part of their CCI activity. Why do we pay a third of our profits in corporation tax along with high local business rates, they ask, if not for the public authorities at least to provide emergency shelter so young people are not lying destitute in the streets? They are right. But to stop there is to mistake the tip for the iceberg itself.
Once young people are rebuilding their lives, initiatives like the foyers, linking training and job opportunities with stable accommodation, help get them back in the mainstream. When companies are recruiting, or even just offering work experience, it makes sense to try for a knock-on social benefit too. GrandMet and BET (now Rentokil Initial after a hostile take-over with uncertain implications for the community affairs programme) were farsighted in their support for the Foyer Federation, and should be pleased with the phenomenal success of the movement.
Yet homelessness among young people is just a symptom of the underlying disease: a shortage of quality affordable rented homes. Consider a parallel. Faced with a shortage of quality school leavers, business gets involved. The CBI calls for more public spending on education. Staff pitch in as school governors and mentors. Companies directly fund curriculum teaching materials. But on the vast inner city housing estates, breeding grounds of ill health and social disaffection, a new generation grows up: nowhere to do homework because of overcrowding; no role models for work because of unemployment and lone-parenting; new slums without the community spirit and extended families that sustained the original slums they replaced.
Much of the rationale for corporate community involvement in the early 1980s was to avoid creating an ‘underclass’, then through high unemployment. Today, the objective holds good, but the subject is housing.
Rights for disabled people, right service for everyone
August 01 1996
by Mike Tuffrey
The new National Disability Council is quietly getting to work, as more companies see benefits from meeting the needs, special or not, of all their customers.
NEW COUNCIL, BETTER PRACTICE
The new National Disability Council is prioritising working with private and other service providers to eliminate discrimination against disabled people, said its chairman, David Grayson, on July 9 when publishing its first year-end report to the government. Set up in January 1996 under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it will monitor a new code of practice on rights of access to goods, facilities, services and premises. However unlike the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission it does not have legal powers of its own. David Grayson is stressing the business benefits of tackling discrimination and asking companies to share their experiences. Contact NDC Secretariat on 0171 712 2099 (minicom 0171 962 8915)
NEW CODES, NEW GUIDANCE
Two new codes of conduct to help overcome disability discrimination were issued by the government on July 25. The first, from the employment and education department, aims to end job discrimination, with practical guidance on how employers can comply with the employment provisions of the 1995 Act, and comes into force on December 2 (ISBN 0 11 270954 0, ?9.95). The second code, from the social security department, covers rights of access to goods, facilities, services and premises, including details on when it is illegal to refuse service to a disabled customer (ISBN 0 11 762432 2, ?6.00). Also published is a guidance note on the definition of disability (ISBN 0 11 270955 0, ?7.50). Contact DfEE on 0171 925 5109, DSS on 0171 712 2171 or for copies HMSO on 0171 873 9090
BETTER BUSINESS, BETTER HEARING
British airports group, BAA, has signed the Royal National Institute for Deaf People’s Louder Than Words charter, it was announced on June 26. The good practice ‘kitemark’ follows the introduction at all seven UK airports of minicoms, induction loops and other simple equipment, along with disability awareness training for staff. Some 15 million of BAA’s 90 million customers annually are likely to be deaf or hard of hearing. Contact Matilda Bradshaw, RNID, on 0171 296 8136
GOOD COMPANIES, GOOD CUSTOMERS
Sainsbury’s has sponsored the launch of a report by Scope, the national charity for people with cerebral palsy, examining how companies are winning customers from among the UK’s 6.5 million disabled people. Based on detailed examination of practices in 16 companies, In Good Company? (ISBN 0 946828 45 8, ?10) makes good practice recommendations to comply and benefit from the Disability Discrimination Act. Contact Fola Bakare, Scope, on 0171 636 5020
WELCOMING CUSTOMERS
A detailed training pack for organisations providing services to customers with learning disabilities has been produced by Mencap, the charity campaigning on behalf of people with a learning disability and their families. Sponsored by Halifax, it contains training modules on understanding the issues, providing a good service and implementing a customer care policy. The materials were tested by Midland Bank and the Benefits Agency. Contact Hasu Morar, Mencap, on 0171 454 0454
CLEAR ROAD FOR MOTABILITY
Enquiries by the National Audit Office and the Charity Commission into Motability, the charity which supplies cars to disabled people, have cleared the banks of making excessive profits and Gerry Acher, the organisation’s vice chairman and a partner in KPMG, its auditors, of any conflict of interest or personal benefit. The cost of cars compares favourably with those available from other suppliers. However the charity is recommended to be more competitive in its financing arrangements, instead of relying exclusively on the group of six banks, and to be more open with performance information. Contact Charity Commission on 0171 210 4477
Comment
Campaigners were disappointed when the government refused to grant the new National Disability Council the full powers enjoyed by its discrimination sister bodies, the CRE and EOC. Statutory powers are important, if only for status, credibility and funding. But as their twentieth anniversary annual reports shows (news of publication covered below) those powers have not exactly ended discrimination on racial or gender grounds, neither in the workplace nor in the market place.
Speaking softly while carrying a modest stick will need to be David Grayson’s tactics – using the carrot of current commercial concerns, like the need for higher sales and profits, better customer and employee relations, with the codes of conduct as the stick. His most powerful tool is publicity, both good in getting the issue of disability discrimination on the agenda, and bad if organisations do not act. Provide specialist help and advice and then let the drive for total quality take effect. A company that is really focused on all customer needs will end up providing a better service to the able bodied as well.
A detailed training pack for organisations providing services to customers with learning disabilities has been produced by Mencap, the charity campaigning on behalf of people with a learning disability and their families. Sponsored by Halifax, it contains training modules on understanding the issues, providing a good service and implementing a customer care policy. The materials were tested by Midland Bank and the Benefits Agency. Contact Hasu Morar, Mencap, on 0171 454 0454
CLEAR ROAD FOR MOTABILITY
Enquiries by the National Audit Office and the Charity Commission into Motability, the charity which supplies cars to disabled people, have cleared the banks of making excessive profits and Gerry Acher, the organisation’s vice chairman and a partner in KPMG, its auditors, of any conflict of interest or personal benefit. The cost of cars compares favourably with those available from other suppliers. However the charity is recommended to be more competitive in its financing arrangements, instead of relying exclusively on the group of six banks, and to be more open with performance information. Contact Charity Commission on 0171 210 4477
Comment
Campaigners were disappointed when the government refused to grant the new National Disability Council the full powers enjoyed by its discrimination sister bodies, the CRE and EOC. Statutory powers are important, if only for status, credibility and funding. But as their twentieth anniversary annual reports shows (news of publication covered below) those powers have not exactly ended discrimination on racial or gender grounds, neither in the workplace nor in the market place.
Speaking softly while carrying a modest stick will need to be David Grayson’s tactics – using the carrot of current commercial concerns, like the need for higher sales and profits, better customer and employee relations, with the codes of conduct as the stick. His most powerful tool is publicity, both good in getting the issue of disability discrimination on the agenda, and bad if organisations do not act. Provide specialist help and advice and then let the drive for total quality take effect. A company that is really focused on all customer needs will end up providing a better service to the able bodied as well.
COMMENTS