Housing authority calls for national exchange scheme

Leading affordable housing provider Circle Anglia is calling for a national mutual house exchange scheme to be put in place to help ease what is fast becoming a social housing squeeze.

One in five people living in social housing want to move but many are unable to do so, according to a new study commissioned by Circle Anglia that estimates the lack of mobility of social housing tenants to move home will cost the UK economy £542 million this year alone.

Circle Anglia already runs a the UK’s only not for profit national house exchange service where housing association and council tenants can advertise their property and look for swaps. It is designed to help overcome issues of overcrowding and under occupation, and to make it easier for tenants to move – whether locally, regionally or nationally.

And with a staggering 1.8 million, or one in 12 of all households in England currently on a housing register or waiting list, and half a million less social rented homes now than there were in 1996, they believe a national exchange system that all landlords must sign-up to could be the solution.

According to the report many of our key public sector services are picking up the cost of social housing tenants not being able to move for reasons such as tenants remaining on benefits rather than moving to areas where there are more jobs available. As a result of the staggering figures unveiled by the report, Circle Anglia is calling for three clear actions from the Government to help get social housing tenants in Britain moving, as part of its ongoing mission to enhance Life Chances. These are all social landlords should join a national mutual exchange register, remove barriers that prevent people from moving and incentivise mobility.

In the following video Mike Ward from Circle Anglia shares the full extent of the problem and explains how an exchange system would work and a House Exchange user explains how the service helped her move home in just six weeks.

For more information visit: houseexchange.org.uk