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Short on time? Thursday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: KCTMO ‘not a passive bystander’ in Grenfell Tower refurbishment, inquiry hears
Phase two of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry rumbled on yesterday, with design and management consultant Artelia among the bodies giving opening statements.
Representing the firm, Richard Spafford told the inquiry that Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) was not a “passive bystander” in the tower’s refurbishment as, he claimed, the ALMO has portrayed itself.
Instead, he said KCTMO remained project manager throughout the works, which saw Grenfell fitted with deadly cladding, and made crucial fire safety decisions.
Also yesterday, some of the corporates involved in the inquiry – including KCTMO – applied for assurance that their evidence will not be used in any future criminal trial.
And Kensington and Chelsea Council’s counsel, James Maxwell-Scott QC, admitted yesterday that the authority’s building control officers failed to request basic details about Grenfell Tower’s cladding system before signing it off.
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Residents of ‘neglected block’ in north London denied secure tenancies
Barnet Council’s housing and growth committee has voted against changing its allocation policy to guarantee secure tenancies for long-standing non-secure tenants at Marsh Drive.
The block’s poor conditions – including vermin, security issues, and damp and mould – hit the headlines last year and have been twice featured on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Inside Housing has also explored the block’s recent history in a feature.
Residents had asked for secure council tenancies at meetings with the local authority and its ALMO, Barnet Homes, as compensation for their living conditions and in recognition of the fact that some have been in temporary accommodation for as long as 20 years.
But the council decided at the meeting on Tuesday that this would not be fair on households in greater housing need, amid fears it could face legal challenges from people in urgent need who have been made to wait longer for housing as a result or people who have already moved away from regeneration schemes into other temporary accommodation.
Lunchtime long read
Illustration: Barry Falls
Repossessions are often seen as a necessary evil for social landlords, but a 6,000-home housing association in North Wales has an aim not to evict anyone. Inside Housing finds out how it’s going.
Quote of the day
“There may be some concern about the differences between a Theresa May-led government than a Boris Johnson-led one, but the overall context for new council housing remains benign.”
Scott Dorling, partner at Trowers & Hamlins, discusses the various methods councils are using to once again become major house builders.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
The Guardian is among those to report on the request from Grenfell Inquiry witnesses that their evidence will not be used in a criminal trial – characterising the move as a threat to withhold evidence.
The same paper also reported on the Court of Appeal’s decision yesterday to dismiss the Department for Work and Pensions’ challenge to a ruling that Universal Credit had unlawfully discriminated against thousands of disabled people.
And Sky News has spoken to Alan Jones, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who claims developers have “played the need for housing” as an excuse for “soulless” new estates.
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