Live blog - 2nd Jan

05.30pm

And that’s a wrap for our first live blog of the new year. Hope you have a good weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday.

05.10pm

A link here for our story on a fatal fire in a block of flats owned by Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) (see 02.29pm post). The 37-year-old man who died has not yet been identified and PCH has not confirmed whether he is a tenant or a leaseholder. Five households are still unable to return to their homes and are living with either friends and family or in bed and breakfast accomodation.

04.50pm

An improved version of the Tory election campaign poster is now doing the rounds on Twitter (see 10.30am). @GeneralBoles, a parody account of former planning minister Nick, has concreted over the countryside/addressed the housing crisis in this image.

That’s more like it #WarOnTheCountrysidepic.twitter.com/jod7uSp0UA

— General Boles (@GeneralBoles) January 2, 2015

04.30pm

IH is not sure what exactly this picture says about affordable housing, but we are enjoying the drawing anyway.

@DCScribesAFFORDABLE HOUSING #todaysdoodlepic.twitter.com/bEqpfqpRw4

— MatteoRocks (@MatteoRocks) January 2, 2015

04.05pm

Want the Labour party to listen to your views on housing? Party apparatchiks have survey for you to complete if you want some input into Labour’s manifesto this year.

First-time buyer struggling to get on the housing ladder? You’re not alone. Share your experiences with us: http://t.co/OearbczXpn

— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) January 2, 2015

03.30pm

Dave Hill at the Guardian writes about Islington’s high profile Mount Pleasant saga, and says the scheme provides politicians with some sobering lessons.

03.00pm

From George Michael to Sir Alex & Kermit The Frog to Kate Bush, here’s every cover from last year. Here’s to 2015! pic.twitter.com/RvtGzthR9i

— The Big Issue (@BigIssue) January 2, 2015

02.29pm

Plaid Cymru AM Jocelyn Davies is attacking the UK government this afternoon, saying that stalled progress on tackling homelessness has been caused by Westminster’s welfare reforms. December’s figures show that homelessness acceptances rose by 9% to 1,365 households in Wales in the July to September quarter, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. Ms Davies, Plaid’s housing spokesperson, tells the South Wales Argus: ‘Good progress was being made here in Wales in reducing the numbers of people facing homelessness. Since then, we have seen the Welsh government’s approach to tackling homelessness undermined by the actions of Westminster in driving through changes to housing benefit that have had the predicted effect of increasing homelessness.’

02.10pm

Plymouth Community Homes has confirmed that a fire in which a man was killed on New Year’s Eve occured in one of its block of flats. The Plymouth Herald reports that a man died in the blaze said by witnesses to be like a ‘fireball’. The newspaper reports that some residents who were evacuated were housed in an emergency rest centre set up in a local pub. IH is establishing how many residents have now been allowed back into the block of flats.

01.48pm

Here’s the link for Pete App’s story on Civitas’ report about the private rented sector. The think tank warns that the availability of housing benefit is creating a ‘vicious cycle’ of inflation with landlords able to fix ‘artificially high’ rents at the lower end of the market.

01.41pm

Have agreed to call for regular checks of fire alarms in rented accommodation - both in the private and housing association sectors.

— Oliver Colvile MP (@olivercolvile) January 1, 2015

13.19pm

Housing market slowdown?

Data released today by the Bank of England shows a dip in mortgage approvals to to 59,029 in November. It is down from 59,511 in October and the lowest since June 2013. Both the Guardian and the Telegraph say this points to a fall in demand for the property market.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Economics, tells the Guardian the figures are a further sign that the housing market ‘ended 2014 on the back foot’.

12.54pm

Right leaning think tank @Civitas_UK call for limit to rent increases in PRS & indefinite tenancies http://t.co/eQ2kpx2OGf #housing

— Katharine SacksJones (@KatharineSJ) January 2, 2015

12.20pm

Over in Debden, Essex, it looks like East Thames housing association is encountering problems with its plans to build 52 properties on a former garage site. The local newspaper says Loughton Town Council and local residents have raised objections over parking places.

12.00pm

Charity Housing Justice points out that it will be Homeless Sunday on January 18th, a day that churches dedicate to homeless people. James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester and Housing Justice chair, will be doing a sleep-out on 17th January at Bromley Parish Church.

11.15am

A new year, a new housing product?

IH has received a media invite from the Greater London Authority to the launch of a ‘new innovative housing product where buyers will need no deposit or mortgage to purchase their home’ in Bexley, south London. The invite gives little detail on the product, but could it be Sunderland landlord Gentoo’s debt-free home model ‘Genie’, that we tipped to come to the capital in December?

10.30am

The green, green grass… but no homes

Nick Duxbury, assistant editor here at Inside Housing, points out that the Tory party’s vision of a recovery in Britain does not include a solution to the housing crisis. At least not in its campaign imagery. While this is, obviously, a little tongue in cheek, it does underscore the fact that green, rolling, housing-free fields provide an image to win the Tories votes.

It seems there are very few houses built on the Conservative’s road to recovery… pic.twitter.com/hSKSXXiFh1

— Nick Duxbury (@nickduxbury) January 2, 2015

9.43am

Another report on the PRS, this time by thinktank Civitas. It recommends a new regulatory framework to ‘curb rent growth’ in the PRS.

8.41am

Interesting report by IPPR over the Christmas period. The think tank suggests giving councils more powers to tax empty homes could bring properties back into use. ‘Long-term empty homes are a luxury England cannot afford,’ says IPPR researcher Bill Davies.

8.37am

Elsewhere, a Survation poll for campaign group Generation Rent shows the British public backs rent controls by nine to one. More on this later.

8.21am

A few more New Year’s honours to tell you about. David Ashmore, former chief executive of Greensquare Group receives an MBE, while Joan Baird, board member at Clanmil Housing Association in Northern Ireland receives an OBE. Shakuntala Ghosh, former CEO of Crisis, and Margaret Clark, chair of Hastoe Housing association, receives a CBE.

8.01am

We are going through the New Year’s honours list looking for people with housing connections. We will try not to overlook anyone, but it is not always obvious that an individual works in the sector. Do get in touch to tell us if we have missed anyone - at carl.brown@insidehousing.co.uk

7.56am

As you can imagine, its a fairly quiet housing news morning, with many people not yet back at work from the holidays. The New Year’s honours list has been released though, and several social housing big hitters have received awards. Affinity Sutton CEO Keith Exford , Sanctuary Group CEO David Bennett and Barbara Spicer, chief executive of Liverpool-based Plus Dane, all receive CBEs.

7.51am

Happy new year! Welcome to our first daily live blog of 2015.