Thursday, 09 February 2012

Inside Housing
11/06/2010

View all stories from this issue.

  • 2016 zero carbon target is misguided

    11/06/2010

    Inside Housing gave an indication that Grant Shapps, the housing minister, is expected to confirm the 2016 zero carbon housing target (Inside Housing, 28 May). This is not something that sits easily with a government that needs to get better value from public sector spending and demonstrate its environmental credentials as well as cutting expenditure.

  • A hard day’s night

    11/06/2010

    Low pay is one of the big dilemmas facing housing staff who work overnight shifts. Are they being short-changed by their employers? Chloë Stothart investigates

  • Age of consent

    11/06/2010

    The TSA’s new regulations cut through a lot of red tape for social landlords, writes Robert Wassall

  • Capital's devolving agenda aids locals

    11/06/2010

    Boris Johnson’s plan to give councils in London more power over their housing budgets is good news for local communities (‘London councils to get HCA funding’, Inside Housing, 1 June).

  • Charity finds it's 75% harder to buy a home

    15/06/2010

    Becoming a homeowner in Scotland is 75 per cent harder than 15 years ago, according to Shelter Scotland.

  • CIH chief executive receives CBE

    14/06/2010

    The chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.

  • CLG fails fire risk assessment test

    11/06/2010

    Fire chiefs have slapped a fire safety enforcement notice on the very government officials who have been demanding that councils improve the safety of tower blocks.

  • Coalition urged to deliver promised housing powers

    17/06/2010

    Welsh housing bodies have urged the UK government to make good on a promise to devolve more powers to the country.

  • Common goal

    11/06/2010

    Today is momentous for social landlords up and down the country.

  • Control your data

    11/06/2010

    Keep your data protection policies under review or face fines up to £500,000, says Carolyn Fink, associate at Penningtons Solicitors

  • Council to build first homes since 1980s

    28/06/2010

    A council in south Wales is hoping to build its first homes since the 1980s with a £3.6 million development.

  • Councils to be given more power over HCA development funds

    11/06/2010

    Every council in England could be handed more control over housing and regeneration budgets, under moves being discussed by the Homes and Communities Agency.

  • Cuts threaten £236m regeneration budget

    14/06/2010

    The government has removed the ring fence from the housing market renewal budget as part of its drive for savings from local authority spending.

  • Design can stop loneliness

    11/06/2010

    A US expert on older people’s housing has said developers should reassess designs for retirement housing to combat loneliness.

  • Extra care funds bail out mortgage rescue scheme

    16/06/2010

    The Welsh Assembly Government has transferred £2 million from building extra care homes for older people to fund its cash-strapped mortgage rescue scheme.

  • Failed asylum seekers feel safer in UK

    17/06/2010

    Refused asylum seekers feel safer being destitute and homeless in the UK than returning to their home country, a report has found.

  • Fed warns cuts could hit most vulnerable

    11/06/2010

    The National Housing Federation has warned government cuts announced yesterday could have a dire effect on vulnerable people.

  • Fraud amnesty sees eight homes returned

    17/06/2010

    Eight properties were returned to an Essex council after it held a two-week amnesty for sub-letters to come clean before a major crackdown.

  • Get a job lot

    11/06/2010

    Lydia Stockdale discovers how recruiting housing officers en masse means lack of experience isn’t necessarily a problem

  • Get ready to mouth off

    11/06/2010

    With a new government in power and huge cuts on the way, debate at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s conference later this month promises to be fierce. Here, some of housing’s hot shots fire their opening salvos - are they hitting the mark?

  • Grand designs

    11/06/2010

    The housing industry needs a new set of design standards that all homes must measure up to

  • HCA mothballs £214 million of kick-start schemes ahead of Budget

    11/06/2010

    The chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency has admitted that the future of all uncommitted funding for its kick-start scheme is under threat.

  • Help for those forced to wed

    11/06/2010

    Housing officers are to be given more training to help them identify and support victims of forced marriage.

  • Home and away

    11/06/2010

    No, they’re not England’s substitutes for the World Cup - they’re Simon Rycroft and Garry Scurfield from Isos Housing Group who visited South Africa as part of an exchange programme to see social housing at work in Johannesburg.

  • Home Office suspends work of ASB squad

    11/06/2010

    The Home Office has suspended the work of its anti-social behaviour action squad.

  • Housing a key issue for social tenants

    17/06/2010

    Social tenants are more likely than any other tenure group to consider housing an important issue facing Britain today, a new survey shows.

  • Housing Executive is not under threat

    11/06/2010

    I write in response to the story headlined ‘Housing Executive faces axe’ (Inside Housing, 30 April). ‘Get it right first time’ is the ambition of all housing providers, including the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. So it is hard to understand how Inside Housing’s headline ‘Housing Executive faces axe’ could get it so wrong!

  • Housing to suffer from £160m PFI cut

    15/06/2010

    Housing schemes will bear the brunt of £160 million of cuts to the Communities and Local Government department’s private finance initiative budget.

  • In pictures: Emin re-opens Arlington House

    16/06/2010

    Artist Tracey Emin and London mayor Boris Johnson opened the newly refurbished Arlington House hostel last week.

  • Joining forces

    15/06/2010

    Cassandra Favager explains how Hyde brought together 17 agencies to help families with the impact of a regeneration scheme in Islington.

  • Labour MP to chair housing select committee

    14/06/2010

    A Labour MP has been made chair of the parliamentary committee overseeing the government’s work on housing.

  • Let tenants choose how they speak up

    11/06/2010

    There is a real danger by adopting the one-model-fits-all approach to scrutiny that housing providers could undo a lot of the tenant involvement that they have worked hard to achieve.

  • Local people back new homes

    15/06/2010

    More than three quarters of English adults would support new homes being built in their area, a study has found.

  • Lovell wins £3.6m extra care contract

    16/06/2010

    Lovell has landed a £3.6 million contract to build an extra care sheltered housing scheme in Dukinfield, Manchester.

  • Low carbon technology can increase running costs

    17/06/2010

    Installing low and zero carbon technologies can increase running costs for residents and housing associations, according to a report published by the London arm of the National Housing Federation.

  • Mayor seeks control of HCA budget

    16/06/2010

    Boris Johnson has published plans to transfer housing powers from bodies including the Homes and Communities Agency to his office.

  • PM claims Labour housing plans were not funded

    15/06/2010

    The previous government’s social housing spending commitments were not funded, the prime minister has said.

  • Police watchdog investigates anti-social behaviour work

    11/06/2010

    The police watchdog is investigating how well officers work with social landlords to tackle anti-social behaviour.

  • Private rented sector plans scrapped

    14/06/2010

    Housing minister Grant Shapps has announced he will not introduce any more regulation for the private rented sector.

  • Public funds support 74% of house building

    16/06/2010

    Nearly three-quarters of new housing starts last year were part funded by the public sector, figures released by the Homes and Communities Agency show.

  • Residents injured in gas explosion

    16/06/2010

    Two residents were taken to hospital and tenants in a block of 14 flats in Doncaster had to be evacuated after a gas explosion.

  • Rivals dispute mayor's building claim

    14/06/2010

    A row has developed over claims made by the mayor of London that he is presiding over a record number of new affordable homes in the capital.

  • Scrapping TSA would damage associations’ credit ratings

    11/06/2010

    A leading ratings agency has implied that any move by the coalition government to close the Tenant Services Authority could see it downgrade housing associations’ credit ratings.

  • SHA Mini profile 2011 - Breyer

    11/06/2010

  • Shapps promises credible rough sleeper counts

    16/06/2010

    The government has promised to overhaul rough sleeping counts, and has set up a group of eight minister charged with preventing homelessness.

  • Shapps: the coffers are empty

    11/06/2010

    Housing minister Grant Shapps has claimed money for affordable housing has run out and a ‘myriad’ of schemes will face the axe.

  • Spending cuts hit house sales

    16/06/2010

    Uncertainty about the government’s spending cuts has hit buyer confidence, according to Bellway.

  • Stair lift failure leads to death

    22/06/2010

    A grandmother died after getting onto a faulty stair lift and falling down 12 feet of stairs at her Barnsley council home.

  • Standards for fire risk tests

    11/06/2010

    Fire chiefs are drawing up competency standards for people who carry out fire risk assessments of buildings.

  • Surveyors expect end of HIPs to drive sales

    15/06/2010

    The suspension of Home Information Packs has led to more homes being put up for sale and will limit house price increases, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

  • Tenants moved after prostitute murders

    11/06/2010

    A Bradford-based housing association has had to rehouse tenants from a block of flats at the centre of a high-profile investigation into the murder of three prostitutes.

  • The age old problem

    11/06/2010

    We must find ways to help poor, older homeowners who are struggling to maintain their houses, writes Heather Petch

  • The big cash backlash

    11/06/2010

    Two weeks ago, I wrote on these pages that annual housing starts in England - currently languishing at around 80,000 - may yet enjoy an unexpected fillip under the coalition government.

  • The road ahead

    16/06/2010

    Justin Sumner offers his monthly update on how wider economic issues could affect housing in the UK.

  • Time to behave

    11/06/2010

    The new government must not waste 13 years of progress in tackling anti-social behaviour

  • Tories may reassess lifetime tenancies

    11/06/2010

    The housing minister has implied the Conservative Party may look at the security of tenure for future social tenants – barely two months after the party pledged it had no policy to change their rights.

  • TSA's local offers 'are a success'

    16/06/2010

    The Tenant Services Authority has hailed pilots of its local standards a success, but has warned providers need to work harder at improving underperforming services.

  • Westminster village Green

    11/06/2010

    Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP, tells Nick Duxbury why so many of her parliamentary plans revolve around housing.