Inside Housing
25/11/2011
View all stories from this issue.
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‘Ghost streets’ handed £35.5m regeneration fund
24/11/2011
Thirteen of the most run down areas of England have been chosen to receive £35.5 million of regeneration funding.
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A quick solution
25/11/2011
A recent case shows landlords should not have to go through a long process when seeking possession, says Ruth Hills
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Benefit threat to human rights
25/11/2011
Whitehall plans to cap benefit for workless households could violate the Human Rights Act, according to legal advice obtained by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
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Borrowing forecasts rise as economy falters
29/11/2011
Chancellor George Osborne has increased UK government borrowing forecasts and reduced growth predictions in his autumn statement today.
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Busting the myth
25/11/2011
Media images of homelessness that are 25 years out of date won’t help eradicate rough sleeping, says Jeremy Swain
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Campaigners secure £18m for Welsh homes
28/11/2011
The Welsh Government will spend an extra £18 million on housing after sector representatives successfully campaigned for greater investment.
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Canada Life steps into loan vacuum
25/11/2011
A major institutional investor has pledged to step into the vacuum created by the end of long-term bank lending to the social housing sector.
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Candidates shortlisted for CIH role
25/11/2011
Two candidates have been announced for the vice presidency of the Chartered Institute of Housing.
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Chancellor ‘ignored’ housing in autumn statement
29/11/2011
The National Housing Federation has attacked the chancellor for ignoring the housing sector in his new infrastructure investment plan.
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Council called on to ditch 1,000-home plan
07/12/2011
Campaigners have called on a council to reconsider a decision to sell land to developers planning to build 1,000 homes.
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Council confirms decision to take ALMO in house
29/11/2011
Islington councillors have rubber-stamped a decision to scrap its arm’s-length management organisation.
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Councils to take on £30bn as HRA debt skyrockets
25/11/2011
Councils have seen the debt burden they are set to shoulder as part of self-financing reforms to the housing revenue account balloon to £29.6 billion.
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Councils want sales receipts
25/11/2011
Councils will lobby to retain right to buy sales receipts after the government confirmed this was an option in its housing strategy on Monday.
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Court warning for private landlords over safety
07/12/2011
A council has warned private landlords to ‘follow the rules’ after one was fined for putting a tenant’s life in danger.
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Cuts fail to halt £2bn rise in housing benefit costs
30/11/2011
Housing benefit costs will rise by nearly £2 billion by 2016 despite government efforts to cut the bill.
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Dangerous type
25/11/2011
The demotion of a housing employee over comments he made on Facebook highlights the grey area between employees’ public and private lives. Here, Lydia Stockdale finds out how others can avoid getting themselves into trouble
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Economy threatened by ‘terrifying’ job cuts
30/11/2011
The interim chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing has described predictions of public sector job cuts as ‘terrifying’.
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Exeter plans to develop 12,000 homes
28/11/2011
Exeter City Council has been given the green light for its 12,000-home development strategy.
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Expert warns new homes breach fire standards
30/11/2011
A leading expert on fire safety in social housing has questioned whether new build properties are meeting sufficiently high standards.
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Fed demands changes to green deal design
25/11/2011
The government needs to do more to make its flagship green deal energy efficiency scheme work for social tenants, the National Housing Federation has said.
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Filling the void
25/11/2011
The housing strategy sets out firm plans to bring empty homes back into use
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Fuel poverty campaign hits House of Commons
25/11/2011
Inside Housing lobbied parliament this week after the UK’s first Green Party MP tabled an early day motion to the House of Commons to support our Green Light campaign.
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Genesis eyes deals to manage 1,500 private homes
25/11/2011
Genesis Housing Group is finalising deals which could see it managing more than 1,500 private rented homes within months.
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Government confirms £200m green deal sweetener
30/11/2011
The government has confirmed plans to put £200 million into encouraging take up of its green deal energy efficiency scheme.
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Helen Meyler
25/11/2011
Helen Meyler has been appointed by Clarke Willmott as a real estate consultant.
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Home Group sets out plans to build 4,000 homes
29/11/2011
One of the country’s biggest housing providers has set out plans to build 4,000 homes over the next four years, part funded by government money.
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Homeless Londoners face move to Hull
30/11/2011
A London council is considering rehoming people in Yorkshire following a surge of people in emergency accommodation.
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Hometrack finds house prices continue to fall
28/11/2011
The steady decline of house prices shows no sign of abating, according to the latest survey of the market.
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Hotline to combat surge in rough sleeping
01/12/2011
A homelessness charity is encouraging members of the public to call with information on rough sleepers after identifying a surge in the number of people on the streets.
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Housing services hit by public sector strike
30/11/2011
Housing offices across the UK are set to close or offer reduced services today as staff join around two million public sector workers who are striking over pensions.
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Housing staff set to join public sector strike
28/11/2011
Social housing providers will be hit by a national day of strike action on Wednesday over plans to change public sector pensions.
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Housing to gain from £30bn infrastructure fund
28/11/2011
The social housing sector could be in line to benefit from a multi-billion pound government deal to encourage pension funds to invest in infrastructure projects.
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Institute names head of audit and risk board
02/12/2011
The Chartered Institute of Housing has named the chair of a new audit and risk board, which will report on the effectiveness of the institute’s governance.
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Job loss warning as public sector pay capped
29/11/2011
Chancellor George Osborne has announced a plan to limit public sector pay increases in his autumn statement to parliament.
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Landlords to be inspected by Care Quality Commission
25/11/2011
Social landlords that are deemed to be at risk of breaching care standards will face investigation by the Care Quality Commission.
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Last call for contest entries
25/11/2011
Just one week remains for aspiring writers to enter Inside Housing’s journalism competition.
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Last chance to register for safety webinar
28/11/2011
There is still time to register for Inside Housing’s fire and gas safety webinar, which is taking place tomorrow.
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Leaders warn of worsening social housing crisis
01/12/2011
Social housing leaders believe the sector is in crisis and the situation is likely to get worse.
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Lord Freud resists benefit cap amendments
28/11/2011
Welfare reform minister Lord Freud has faced more questions in parliament from peers worried about the proposed benefit cap for workless households.
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Low private rents stifling housing supply
25/11/2011
A report on the state of the private rented sector has warned that current low returns for landlords are restricting the supply of housing.
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Ms motivator
25/11/2011
The number of young people out of work has hit a staggering 1 million. To give its unemployed tenants a helping hand, one landlord called Channel 4’s straight talking Fairy Jobmother. Words and photography by Simon Brandon
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Nationwide figures buck house price trend
29/11/2011
House prices increased slightly this month, according to figures published today by Nationwide.
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News flash
25/11/2011
Mainstream media must engage with the wider housing issues it has ignored for so long
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Non-decent homes fall by 26 per cent
30/11/2011
The number of non-decent local authority homes in England has fallen 26 per cent in the last year, according to government figures.
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Pension funds earmark £200m for social housing
01/12/2011
Investment manager M&G is set to step into the social housing lending market after securing £200 million of pension fund investment for the sector.
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Pepper potting problems
25/11/2011
In mixed tenure estates landlords could struggle to recoup costs for upkeep of communal areas, says Simon Bagg, senior associate at Lewis Silkin
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Planning blow risks 16,000 affordable homes
25/11/2011
Councils could be forced to sacrifice 16,000 affordable homes after the government said they should ‘reconsider’ existing planning deals.
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Poll to probe association boards
25/11/2011
A new survey is to probe how well housing associations are governed.
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Private house builders agree affordable rent deals
30/11/2011
Two private sector developers were among the 10 providers to sign contracts with the Homes and Communities Agency last week as part of its affordable homes programme.
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Protecting your reputation
28/11/2011
How should employers address the threats posed by social networking sites? Lawyer Siobhan Fitzgerald explains
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Public registrations take a dip
25/11/2011
There has been a sharp fall in public sector house building over the past two months, according to the latest registration figures.
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Rental yields rise for private landlords
07/12/2011
Increased demand has driven up returns for the private rented sector over the last quarter, according to a new survey.
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Residency rodeo
25/11/2011
Most housing associations look set to adopt fixed-term tenancies but does this mean they are bucking their social purpose and will tenants want to let go of their homes once their time is up? Nick Duxbury investigates
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Scots see surge in affordable housing starts
30/11/2011
Affordable housing starts in Scotland were up 24 per cent in the third quarter of 2011, despite the fact that starts overall were down.
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Scottish housing association chief to retire
01/12/2011
A stalwart of the housing sector in Scotland has announced his retirement.
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Sector leaders warn of house building crisis
25/11/2011
Figures on affordable housing starts published this week have been described as a ‘disaster’ and ‘alarmingly low’ by social landlords.
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Shapps defends timing of housing strategy
28/11/2011
The housing minister has defended the timing of the housing strategy, which was released the day before disastrous house building figures.
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Show your support
25/11/2011
One of the key aims of the Green Deal consultation, announced on Wednesday by energy secretary Chris Huhne, is to cut fuel poverty.
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Solar cuts threaten 4,500 jobs at Carillion
01/12/2011
Carillion Energy Services emerged as the biggest casualty of the government’s early cut to the feed in tariff so far as it announced that the solar reforms meant 4,500 jobs were under threat.
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Something borrowed
25/11/2011
The coalition’s underwriting of mortgages echoes similar measures in Scotland, says David Bookbinder
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Strategic move
25/11/2011
Affordable housing figures reveal the scale of the challenge the housing strategy must address, says Stuart Macdonald
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Transfer approval raises threat of legal action
01/12/2011
Wycombe District Council has approved the transfer of its homes to a community housing association, raising the prospect of legal challenge to the move.
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Victims panel warns riots could happen again
28/11/2011
Urgent action is needed to prevent a repeat of the riots that swept England during August, according to the independent panel investigating the unrest.
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Welsh associations increase investment in homes
24/11/2011
Welsh housing associations have increased their investment over the last year by more than 15 per cent, according to a study commissioned by Community Housing Cymru.
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Welsh landlords asked to raise building goals
25/11/2011
The Welsh housing minister has asked registered providers to increase their targets for house building to help alleviate shortages in Wales.
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White groups feel excluded from social housing
29/11/2011
White working-class residents feel they are losing out when it comes to the allocation of social housing, according to a study.