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Social housing company plots fundraising exercise and Which? warns on fridges
In the news
A social housing company is planning a £150m float on the stock exchange, The Telegraph reports.
Fundamentum was set up in 2013 and has bought more than 100 properties which it rents to housing associations and councils for supported housing.
The listed company will target a dividend of 5% per year and said it has identified a significant pipeline of properties for future investment, which it will fund using the proceeds from the initial public offering.
The company plans to offer 150 million shares at £1 each.
HousingNet has pulled housing association statistics out of gender pay gap reporting to calculate which organisation has the largest disparity. It ranks Housing and Care 21 as the landlord with the biggest gap, given its 36% mean margin between male and female employees.
The full data can be viewed here.
You can read our detailed feature about gender pay gap reporting from last August here.
Consumer watchdog Which? has called for plastic-backed fridges to be “urgently” removed from sale because they pose fire risks and could speed up blazes, the BBC reports.
Its investigation of 500 refrigeration appliances found the backing material on almost half was made of unsafe plastic.
Which? has labelled 250 models “don’t buys” and is recommending consumers do not purchase plastic-backed models.
A vending machine providing 24-hour access to food and clothing for homeless people has been removed from a shopping centre, the BBC reports.
The machine, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, was installed in Nottingham’s Broadmarsh in December.
The city council said it had been a “misguided and ill-informed attempt to address complex problems”.
The charity Action Hunger said the decision not to support the project further was a “shame” for Nottingham.
On social media
Yesterday was the deadline for companies to report their gender pay gap results, and the housing association results have generated some debate on Twitter:
Initial findings are disappointing, if not surprising. Less hand wringing. More action required from #ukhousing t.co/5CANXiwgAO
— Neil Goodrich (@NGoodrichHsg)Initial findings are disappointing, if not surprising. Less hand wringing. More action required from #ukhousing https://t.co/5CANXiwgAO
— Neil Goodrich (@NGoodrichHsg) April 5, 2018
And the ‘Housing Yorkshire’ documentary on TV last night started a heated debate:
#housingyorkshire This woman comes to the UK, she gets an expensive housing association house, after just selling her own house for a profit. She’s now asking for a bigger house and leaves it empty. Why are we letting people do this to us - we are a laughing stock!
— Beckie (@messybeckie)#housingyorkshire This woman comes to the UK, she gets an expensive housing association house, after just selling her own house for a profit. She's now asking for a bigger house and leaves it empty. Why are we letting people do this to us - we are a laughing stock!
— Beckie (@messybeckie) April 4, 2018
Reactions to #housingyorkshire demonstrate that lots and lots of people still think all social housing is COUNCIL housing. Interesting #ukhousing
— John Popham (@johnpopham)Reactions to #housingyorkshire demonstrate that lots and lots of people still think all social housing is COUNCIL housing. Interesting #ukhousing
— John Popham (@johnpopham) April 4, 2018