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Our most read comment pieces of 2018
We reveal which of our comment pieces in 2018 generated the most interest among Inside Housing subscribers.
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Below, in reverse order, are the opinion pieces in 2018 that generated the most page views among our subscribers.
10. We need to correctly diagnose social housing stigma
The need to combat stigma became a well-worn theme in the second half of 2018, largely due to the government’s renewed focus on tenant engagement following Grenfell.
This piece, by Paul Taylor, innovation coach at Bromford, argued that different trends are often conflated when people talk about social housing stigma.
He warned that laying the blame squarely on the media is naïve, and cautions against paternalism from social landlords. “We need to avoid casting ourselves as professionals and experts to be listened to,” he wrote.
9. The Social Housing Green Paper: a golden opportunity missed?
“We need much more ambition, not just tinkering around the edges,” was the verdict of Melanie Rees, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, on the government’s Social Housing Green Paper in August.
Ms Rees assessed the green paper against Chartered Institute of Housing recommendations on challenging stigma, increasing supply, ensuring tenants have a voice and creating good-quality and well-managed housing, and found the government’s proposals wanting.
8. A short history of social housing league tables
The prospect of housing associations being assessed in regulatory league tables was outlined in the Social Housing Green Paper in August and became a major talking point.
In this article, Mervyn Jones explains that the idea is anything but new.
The Savills Housing Consultancy director traces the history of league tables, from the earliest days of regulation in 1975, to the Housing Corporation’s key performance indicators in the early 2000s, and the current provider-led Sector Scorecard, drawing parallels with current government thinking.
7. Why we are freezing or cutting rents on thousands of homes
“This is the start of the journey towards rent fairness,” proclaimed Brendan Sarsfield in this piece published in May.
Mr Sarsfield explained the thinking behind Peabody’s headline-grabbing plans to stop charging affordable rent.
Rent-setting is always a popular topic among Inside Housing subscribers and you visited this article in your droves.
6. How a gas safety checks ruling will make it more difficult to evict tenants
From rent-setting, to another core aspect of housing management: gas safety.
Sian Evans, head of property litigation at solicitors Weightmans, explained in March the implications of a county court ruling about gas safety checks. The ruling stated an eviction notice was invalid because a gas safety notice wasn’t issued before the tenant moved into the property.
This, suggests Ms Evans, could lead to landlords having to change their procedures, and to tenants using gas safety notices as “stalling tactics”.
5. The rebranded DCLG: what’s in a name?
No list of our top comment pieces of the year would be complete without our respected blogger Jules Birch.
In one of his first blogs of the year, Mr Birch reflected on the change of name of the government department responsible for housing to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
He argued department names reflect priorities and beliefs and therefore the move is significant.
4. Budget small print reveal significant announcements for housing
Jules Birch appears again in our list at number four, with a piece last month pulling apart what the Budget means for social housing.
Mr Birch pulled out the more obscure housing news buried in the Budget documents. “If they do pan out, they amount to a shake-up of housing supply with far-reaching implications for house builders, housing associations, for-profit providers and the commercial property sector,” was his verdict.
3. Could a Carillion-style collapse happen in social housing?
It seems like a long time ago now, but the liquidation of Carillion in January was the first major housing market story of the year.
This piece by David Montague talked about the extent to which housing associations are well placed to prevent a similar collapse.
He wrote: “Housing associations are responsible social businesses. We are ambitious, but we are not bullet proof.”
2. Is Moat’s downgrade a message to the sector?
In November housing association Moat had its governance rating downgrade following the sale of a scheme to a for-profit provider.
At two in the list is this piece by Ian Davis of Trowers & Hamlins which looked at this slightly “unusual” regulatory judgement and tried to decode what the Regulator of Social Housing could be saying. Mr Davis said that unlike most judgements, there was no link to a clear breach of one of the other standards, a breach of governance code or financial failure.
Mr Davis said: “We anticipate that this regulatory judgement will lead to many RPs reviewing their schemes of delegation.”
1. Channel 4’s Dispatches was not a balanced documentary
The top spot is taken by that man again, David Montague, with a takedown of the controversial Dispatches episode Getting Rich From the Housing Crisis in July.
The L&Q chief executive took aim at the programme’s narrative – that housing associations have lost their social purpose and are profiting from the housing crisis.
He argued that associations have used self-funding to continue creating communities despite cuts to government funding. The piece followed a similarly critical piece of the episode by Inside Housing.
He wrote: “We went into the recession with a development programme of 5,000 affordable homes and came out the other side with an affordable programme of 55,000 homes – a bad outcome?”
