Thursday, 09 February 2012

Inside Housing
13/08/2010

View all stories from this issue.

  • ...but not like this

    13/08/2010

    Ejecting people from social housing when they start to do well is not the way to ease pressure on waiting lists

  • 234 homes for Birmingham

    13/08/2010

    Birmingham Council will build 234 new homes after securing funding from the Homes and Communities Agency through the £53 million Public Land Programme after donating 8.1 acres of its own land.

  • A sign of the times

    13/08/2010

    The days of security of tenure look increasingly numbered as the Conservatives prepare to make a dramatic U-turn on key pre-election promises. Martin Hilditch investigates one of the most radical changes ever proposed for social housing.

  • ALMO battles gagging order

    13/08/2010

    An arm’s-length management organisation has demanded a contractor stop gagging tenants to whom it has paid compensation following complaints about work.

  • Ask the experts

    13/08/2010

    Q: I live in a house which was council-owned until 2003, it is now owned by a housing trust. I had a secure tenancy when I moved into the property in 1982, now I have an assured tenancy. What is the difference and do I retain all my rights? reuben8

  • Audit Commission 'never had a day at the races', says boss

    17/08/2010

    The chair of the Audit Commission has written to Eric Pickles to complain reports of the quango’s spending activities were inaccurate.

  • Be careful of what you say

    13/08/2010

    I was dismayed to read in your otherwise good article ‘Risen from the ashes’ (Inside Housing, 30 July) the phrase: ‘Residents at St Giles suffer a variety of moderate disabilities.’

  • Behind closed doors

    13/08/2010

    On the outside they look like ordinary guesthouses but inside, rogue landlords are using Blackpool’s former hotels to house dozens of people in unsanitary conditions. Marie-Claire Kidd reports on how the council is fighting back

  • Berkeley close to private homes deal

    13/08/2010

    House builder Berkeley Homes is close to striking a deal with the Homes and Communities Agency to build 500 private rented sector homes.

  • Black Country joins retrofit research project

    18/08/2010

    Black Country Housing Group is to take part in a major Europe-wide research project into the cost of retrofit work to existing homes.

  • Boris outlines minimum space standards

    18/08/2010

    The mayor of London has published a draft version of a new design guide for homes in the capital.

  • Bradford’s white estates feel ignored

    13/08/2010

    Residents on Bradford’s traditionally white estates feel like the ‘lowest of the low’, according to new research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

  • Cash incentive to refurbish empty homes

    13/08/2010

    The government is considering handing social landlords new financial incentives to persuade them to bring empty homes back into use.

  • Children on housing estates 'more likely to be road casualties'

    18/08/2010

    Children living on housing estates in suburbs are most at risk of being road casualties, research has found.

  • CIH seeks 'urgent information' on Audit Commission

    17/08/2010

    The Chartered Institute of Housing is seeking urgent clarification about the effect the scrapping of the Audit Commission will have on housing inspections.

  • Circle Anglia bids to run ‘freedom pass'

    13/08/2010

    One of England’s largest housing associations is set to bid to run the government’s new ‘freedom pass’ database for tenants who want to move.

  • Clegg attacks Labour welfare spending

    18/08/2010

    Nick Clegg has attacked Labour’s welfare record for spending ‘huge sums of money’ which did not alter people’s life chances.

  • Clegg: housing 'is UK's biggest problem'

    17/08/2010

    Access to affordable housing is one of the biggest problems faced by the UK, Nick Clegg said yesterday.

  • CLG spent thousands on public art and catering

    13/08/2010

    The Homes and Communities Agency splashed out £85,000 on art while the Tenant Services Authority spent £860 on flowers and £47,000 on a ‘business psychologist’ last year.

  • Council cutbacks put charities at risk

    13/08/2010

    Homelessness charities face closure or huge losses in income as cash-strapped councils drop their services.

  • EU retrofit cash triumph

    13/08/2010

    Social landlords have won a battle with the London Development Agency to access European cash for energy efficiency improvements.

  • Falling repossessions could rise again, warn charity

    12/08/2010

    Council of Mortgage Lender figures show repossessions continued to fall in the second quarter of 2010.

  • Former Labour minister to become social mobility tsar

    16/08/2010

    A former Labour cabinet minister was confirmed as an independent reviewer on social mobility for the coalition Government over the weekend.

  • Greater Manchester to build 670 new homes

    13/08/2010

    Local authorities in Greater Manchester and the Homes and Communities Agency have announced a £25.3 million deal for new homes and regeneration.

  • Harrow offers amnesty to sub-letters

    19/08/2010

    Harrow Council is giving illegal sub-letters two weeks to hand back their keys with no legal action before a crackdown.

  • HCA confirmed to take on TSA regulation

    14/10/2010

    The Homes and Communities Agency has been saved in the bonfire of quangos and will take on regulation from the Tenant Services Authority, it has been confirmed.

  • Heed Canada’s warning

    13/08/2010

    Canada is frequently cited as the ultimate example of how to get out of a crippling budget deficit. In 1993 it cut spending by a fifth and within four years produced a budget surplus.

  • High-earners will 'pay to stay' in social housing

    21/11/2011

    Landlords will be allowed to increase rents for high-earning social housing tenants in order to fund the building of new homes, under new plans announced today.

  • Highlands to get 400 homes with £40million deal

    18/08/2010

    Albyn Housing Society has agreed a £40m loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland and half the loan will be used to fund 400 homes for shared equity sale or for rent.

  • Home help

    13/08/2010

    In the first of a two-part series focusing on homelessness organisations, Chris Ames and Lydia Stockdale find out how charities can soften the blow of government spending cuts through hard-hitting fundraising adverts aimed at the public

  • Homelessness enquiry for Wales

    20/08/2010

    Shelter Cymru has announced it is bringing back a commission to look into how housing and homelessness is being tackled in Wales.

  • Housing strategy receives mixed reaction

    21/11/2011

    Reaction to the government’s housing strategy has been mixed with some welcoming it while others have attacked it as being ‘far from radical’.

  • Housing support service one of first 'trailblazing' mutuals

    19/08/2010

    A social enterprise that will deliver housing support services to vulnerable people in Mansfield is among the first wave of pathfinder mutual companies announced by the government.

  • Housing’s ‘big’ role

    13/08/2010

    Everyone’s talking about the ‘big society’ but what does it mean for social housing providers, asks Heather Petch

  • Islington Council must act quickly

    13/08/2010

    As council leader I commissioned the investigation highlighted in your article ‘Islington launches fraud inquiry into housing PFI’ (Inside Housing, 23 July).

  • Landlords to decide on devolved funding plan

    12/08/2010

    Councils in London have a month to decide whether to enter into agreements which would allow them a share of the Homes and Communities Agency’s £5 billion budget.

  • Lib Dem deputy to create benefit reform plan

    13/08/2010

    The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats is drawing up alternatives to the government’s plans to reform housing benefit because of his concern about their impact in London.

  • Mears announces profit jump

    18/08/2010

    Mears Group has announced a 48 per cent increase in its operating profit.

  • Mortgage lending increases

    20/08/2010

    Gross mortgage lending increased by 5 per cent in July from the previous month, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

  • National Tenant Voice to wind down company structure

    19/08/2010

    The National Tenant Voice is to wind down its formal company structure as it seeks a way to carry on independently.

  • North west’s £350m housing cash bid

    13/08/2010

    Councils in the north west plan to expand a £350 million pot of regeneration money to fund housing projects.

  • Pensioner faces eviction from his family home

    18/08/2010

    An 83-year-old pensioner has been asked to leave the council house he has lived in for 74 years in order to make way for a family.

  • Pickles scraps Audit Commission

    13/08/2010

    The Audit Commission is to be scrapped, the government announced today.

  • Plan for investors to ‘buy’ landlords

    13/08/2010

    Housing associations could be sold to pension funds or to life insurance companies to raise finance for the provision of affordable homes, a report has suggested.

  • Review aims to end house price confusion

    19/08/2010

    A review into the contrasting house price figures produced by different indices has been launched by the UK Statistics Authority.

  • Rok's profits tumble amid 'suicide-bid' claims

    17/08/2010

    Rok has denied suicide bidding as it announces a halving of its operating profit in a year.

  • Rough sleepers are eating rats

    13/08/2010

    Homelessness charities say some Eastern European rough sleepers are so desperate for food they are eating rats.

  • Scotland to blitz on empty homes

    13/08/2010

    Shelter Scotland has secured £55,000 every year for the next two years to tackle the problem of empty homes in the country.

  • Sector’s pension fund reduces deficit

    13/08/2010

    The deficit in the Social Housing Pension Scheme has reduced by £44 million, showing signs that the fund is recovering from the financial crisis.

  • Strategy: private landlord regulation 'unnecessary'

    21/11/2011

    The government has pledged to avoid ‘unnecessary’ regulation of the private rented sector.

  • Striking the right balance

    13/08/2010

    Landlords need to sweat their commercial property assets but they must not overlook their residents

  • Surveyors report fall in construction work

    19/08/2010

    Construction workloads on social housing projects have dropped sharply in the second quarter of the year, according to a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

  • Tenants have right to secure tenures

    13/08/2010

    We were surprised by the prime minister’s announcement that the coalition government intends to end security of tenure for future social housing tenants.

  • The Canadian way

    13/08/2010

    Canada cut its way to an impressive economic recovery in the 1990s which David Cameron hopes to emulate. But the UK overlooks the country’s subsequent housing crisis at its peril. Nick Duxbury reports.

  • Thousands mob housing officials in the US

    18/08/2010

    More than 30,000 people mobbed housing officials in Atlanta last week to gain a place on a housing waiting list.

  • Tories exposed for mis-selling security

    13/08/2010

    The Conservative Party held pre-election meetings with key housing figures about its plans to remove security of tenure from future social housing tenants.

  • TSA leaves an expensive legacy

    13/08/2010

    The report that the Tenant Services Authority’s pension liabilities have increased by £25 million since December 2008. For an organisation of just under 250 employees that’s amazing.

  • We must talk about proper regulation

    13/08/2010

    Open letter to housing minister Grant Shapps: options for social housing regulationI know you are now actively engaged with the Communities and Local Government department and sector stakeholders in looking at options for replacing the Tenant Services Authority and I realise decisions are likely to be taken quickly in order for proposals to be drafted into the Localism Bill. We clearly need to re-open the debate about the most appropriate form of regulation ...

  • We need action

    13/08/2010

    ‘I think it is enormously important to build more homes…We will replace the [current] system and I hope it will be much more responsive.’ This was the pledge just two months ago from housing minister Grant Shapps in an interview with Inside Housing.

  • We need change...

    13/08/2010

    The concept of a council house for life is no longer tenable; those who can afford to leave social housing should make way for those who can’t

  • Welsh sustainable homes requirement to kick in

    16/08/2010

    The Welsh Assembly Government has reminded builders all homes must meet level 3 of the code for sustainable homes in Wales from 1 September.

  • Wider range of rental models needed, says CIH

    17/08/2010

    The ‘golden age’ of home ownership is over, according to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Housing.