Friday, 25 May 2012

Inside Housing
20/01/2012

View all stories from this issue.

  • £77m deal signed for 350 homes

    20/01/2012

    A £77m Private Finance Initiative contract for 350 homes has been signed in West Wiltshire following government approval.

  • 50 per cent of landlords making cutbacks

    20/01/2012

    Half of all housing associations either reduced back office staff numbers in 2011 or are planning to do so in the next 12 months as they prepare to comply with a new regulatory framework.

  • Authorities urged to tackle fuel poor areas

    26/01/2012

    The government is being urged to work with local government to set up ‘low carbon zones’ to tackle fuel poverty in deprived areas.

  • Battle for ‘right to own’ heats up

    20/01/2012

    Frustrated tenants’ groups have called on the government to publish a consultation on ‘right to own’ regulations - after a delay of almost a year.

  • Battling fraud

    20/01/2012

    New proposals to tackle sub-letting should include grounds for possession to bring stock back into use, says Colin Hammond, head of housing litigation at Penningtons Solicitors

  • Benefit cap to hurt thousands more households

    23/01/2012

    The government has revised upwards its estimate of how many households will be affected by its proposed benefit cap.

  • Bill to create ‘premier league’ for housing allocation

    26/01/2012

    Homeless families would only get priority access to social housing if they pass a ‘good citizenship’ test under proposals introduced to parliament this week.

  • Candidates clash over 'distrust' of housing sector

    25/01/2012

    The two candidates competing to be vice president of the Chartered Institute of Housing have clashed over government perception of the housing sector.

  • Charity calls for council to target empty homes

    23/01/2012

    A housing charity has welcomed plans by a council to build 1,000 new homes but has also pressed for empty homes in the area to be brought back into use.

  • Clegg defends benefit cap ahead of Lords debate

    23/01/2012

    The deputy prime minister has dismissed claims that families living in London and the South East would be forced to move out of their homes by the benefit cap.

  • Coalition slammed over rejection of social rent

    20/01/2012

    The government has come under fire for rejecting social rent in favour of affordable homes.

  • Council approves rent rise of almost 10 per cent

    20/01/2012

    Rotherham Council has approved a recommendation for an inflation-busting rent rise of 9.45 per cent - one of the biggest hikes anywhere in the country.

  • Council reveals plan to licence HMOs

    23/01/2012

    Brighton and Hove Council is planning to licence houses in multiple occupation to improve neighbourhoods.

  • Council u-turn over eviction of riot teen

    19/01/2012

    Wandsworth Council has backed down over plans to evict the family of a man convicted of rioting from their council home.

  • Councillors vote against officers' rent rise

    26/01/2012

    Councillors have rejected officers’ calls for a 7.8 per cent rent rise and instead are using proposed savings to implement an increase of 6.8 per cent.

  • Councils back green deal efficiency scheme

    26/01/2012

    Most local authorities are keen to get involved in the government’s green deal energy efficiency scheme, research has suggested.

  • Crime watch

    20/01/2012

    The government wants to make the unlawful sub-letting of social homes a criminal offence. So what are the challenges and will its proposals bring an end to the practice? Nick Duxbury investigates

  • Defeat for government on Welfare Reform Bill

    23/01/2012

    The government has tonight lost another key vote on the Welfare Reform Bill

  • Dromey apologises for breaking Commons rules

    19/01/2012

    The shadow housing minister has been forced to apologise to MPs after a standards committee found he had broken rules about registering income.

  • Embassies to send home foreign rough sleepers

    20/01/2012

    London embassies will fast-track travel documents and provide plane tickets for homeless eastern European nationals in a bid to reduce rough sleeping in the capital.

  • Eurozone crisis drives up loan price

    20/01/2012

    The price of bank loans to the social housing sector has shot up on the back of the deepening eurozone economic crisis.

  • Evictions by RSLs falling in Scotland

    24/01/2012

    The number of evictions by social landlords in Scotland has fallen almost 300 and the number of tenants in arrears is down, according to the latest figures.

  • Firms line up with green deal concerns

    20/01/2012

    A group of leading companies including major high street retailers Marks & Spencer and Homebase have called on the government to amend its flagship retrofit scheme so social landlords are not excluded from subsidy to tackle fuel poverty.

  • Government proposes new FIT cut date

    19/01/2012

    The government has moved to address the uncertainty surrounding the feed-in tariff by proposing a cut from 3 March if the government loses its legal battle.

  • Government to push through welfare reforms

    24/01/2012

    The government has vowed to fight on with its controversial plans to cap benefits after losing another House of Lords vote on the Welfare Reform Bill last night.

  • Home Group to stream live meetings

    20/01/2012

    One of England’s largest housing associations will open up its board meetings and launch e-petitions in a bid to strike a deal with the government over transparency.

  • Home is where the heart is

    20/01/2012

    Why social landlords should get involved in local enterprise partnerships.

  • Homeless project a success - report

    24/01/2012

    Rough sleepers who attended a No Second Night Out ‘hub’ in London were significantly less likely to return to sleeping on the streets than those who didn’t, according to a six-month report on the project.

  • Homelessness charity gets boost from artists

    24/01/2012

    Some of the world’s leading artists have joined forces in support of homelessness charity Shelter.

  • Housing project saved by council intervention

    20/01/2012

    A social housing project delivering 56 affordable homes has been saved following intervention by a local authority.

  • Institute warns green deal won't tackle fuel poverty

    20/01/2012

    The government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme won’t tackle fuel poverty, the Chartered Institute of Housing has warned.

  • Judges reject government’s solar cuts appeal

    25/01/2012

    The government has lost its appeal against a High Court ruling that an earlier than expected cut to solar subsidies is illegal.

  • Just rewards

    26/01/2012

    We must see a decisive change in welfare to reward those families who play by the rules rather than exploit them, says Frank Field.

  • Landlord and contractor agree to end repairs deal

    25/01/2012

    A contractor’s 10-year deal to provide responsive repairs to a major landlord has been stopped just two years into the agreement.

  • Landlord vice president criticised over benefit plan

    20/01/2012

    A housing association has distanced itself from its vice president after she tabled an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill that would slash benefit for families with three or four children.

  • Landlords take 'bedroom tax' fight to MPs

    26/01/2012

    Landlords are throwing their weight behind a campaign to stop a ‘bedroom tax’ on tenants deemed to be underoccupying their homes.

  • Losing control

    20/01/2012

    The past year has taught us that we are letting the state take over our lives, says Julie Fawcett

  • Minister to reveal empty homes fund

    24/01/2012

    A government minister is expected to announce a fund for communities to bring empty homes back into use today.

  • Missing contractual targets

    20/01/2012

    Housing benefit caps could put landlords providing rent collection services at financial risk says, David Isaacson, director at Cobbetts

  • Morrison in £12.7m loss

    20/01/2012

    Housing repairs and maintenance contractor Morrison suffered significant losses in the first six months of the 2011/12 financial year, after seeing a sharp downturn in its high-value work.

  • Most northerly installation of NorDan windows

    24/01/2012

    The £4.5m project Grödians Housing project, at Quoys, Lerwick on the Scottish islands of Shetland is the most northerly project leading supplier NorDan has ever provided windows to, in the United Kingdom.

  • OFT launches investigation into payday loans

    24/02/2012

    The Office of Fair Trading has launched a review of payday loans amid fears that some companies were targeting people who cannot afford to repay them.

  • Olympic homes to be split between seven boroughs

    20/01/2012

    Seven London boroughs will be able to nominate social tenants for housing in the athletes’ village following the Olympic Games.

  • Orbit secures £150m in loans

    20/01/2012

    Orbit Group has arranged two new bank loan facilities totalling £150 million.

  • Peer tables amendment for benefit cap exemption

    20/01/2012

    A Labour peer has called for the total benefits cap to not apply in cases where it puts a person at risk of homelessness.

  • PM attacks Labour for 'hypocritical' benefit stance

    25/01/2012

    David Cameron has accused Labour of ‘hypocrisy’ for voting to change the way the £26,000 total benefits cap is calculated despite backing the policy in principle.

  • Power to the people?

    27/01/2012

    Is tenant cashback empowering for tenants, or an attempt to paper over the cracks in professional services? Our panellists go head to head

  • Private landlords dismiss Cameron rent claim

    20/01/2012

    The leading trade body representing 1.2 million private landlords in the UK has dismissed David Cameron’s claim that rents are falling in the sector as a result of the coalition government’s welfare reforms.

  • Reaching critical mass

    20/01/2012

    Next week is a big one for social landlords across the UK and also for two Inside Housing campaigns.

  • Regulator will not define ‘serious detriment’ clause

    25/01/2012

    The social housing regulator has said there will be no clear definition of the ‘serious detriment’ that will see it intervene in consumer regulation cases.

  • Report claims mergers do not create success

    31/01/2012

    Mergers do not automatically create efficiency and improved services, a report published today has found.

  • Report says councils 'key' to solving housing crisis

    23/01/2012

    Councils hold the key to helping to solve the housing crisis, according to a report published today.

  • Rising too high

    20/01/2012

    Social housing rents for the majority of tenants in England are set to increase by at least 6.1 per cent from April - and in some cases much more.

  • Scottish Government urged to rethink housing cuts

    25/01/2012

    Housing bodies are calling on the Scottish Government to use extra funds to build more affordable housing as politicians debate the Scottish Budget Bill in parliament today.

  • Scrapheap challenge

    20/01/2012

    The price of metal has risen sky high making pipes, railings and even boilers an irresistible target to thieves. Chloë Stothart finds out how one housing association is tackling the growing problem of metal theft

  • Stand up for tenants

    20/01/2012

    The housing minister is unfairly demonising tenants and his comments must be challenged

  • Stock transfer councils in plea over RTB receipts

    20/01/2012

    Councils are calling for the government to adapt the new right to buy policy, amid fears authorities that have transferred properties to housing associations will be unable to pay for replacement homes.

  • Tenancies demoted for parents of ASB children

    24/01/2012

    Residents whose children committed a hate crime against a housing association tenant with learning disabilities have been stripped of their assured tenancies for a year.

  • The green building dream

    20/01/2012

    Back in 2007 David Cameron had just started his march to power, Lady Gaga was finishing off her breakthrough album and, in the housing world, eco-towns were the next big thing.

  • THFC issues £131m bond

    20/01/2012

    The Housing Finance Corporation has issued a £131 million bond on behalf of ten housing association borrowers, breaking the 5 per cent yield barrier.