Difficult than I envisaged...’
The underlying complexities he has observed that contribute to homelessness include:
The welfare system, and particularly Universal Credit, including delays to payments;
The housing benefit cap failing to keep pace with soaring private rents;
The lack in the city;
Insufficient education employment opportunities.
The question now, of course, is what can the Mayor do in his final year of office – and beyond – if he is elected for a second term? How will he crack homelessness?
His targets are two-fold:
Housing benefits gap: Mr Street says there are lots of causes of homelessness – family breakdown,
of affordable housing
and broken relationships, domestic violence, adding: “But the thing that’s rocketed is those not being able to pay private sector rent. This is the one we really need to look at.
“Private sector rents in the West Midlands are rising higher than anywhere else in the country, and housing benefits have not moved. That is not a sustainable position and I need to persuade the incoming Government of that fact.”
Affordable housing: Mr Street said: “We have to provide more homes in total. Last year, across the region, there were 14,500 new homes built – up 20% on the previous year. But it’s fair to say the proportion of affordable homes is not good enough – last year it was 18% of that total.
“We are beginning to make progress but we need to do a better job of demanding more on affordable homes from developers.”
Redevelopment of previously used land, including brownfield and derelict industrial land, “has to be the priority” over building on green fields, he said. The region’s development prospectus was “all about public-private partnership in reclaiming brownfield land and turning it into housing opportunities.
“We can make it a criteria of releasing the funds we hold that there will be a minimum proportion [of affordable homes],” said Mr Street.
“I have had conversations with potential developers. We have leverage if we are putting in cash from brownfield sites.”