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From the archive – MoD finally kills off Crown Housing Trust
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week five, 15 and 25 years ago
25 years ago
Defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind announced the axing of the Crown Housing Trust, the body which had been set up to manage the Armed Services married quarters housing.
As exclusively reported, plans to privatise the 68,000 homes had been scrapped because of a row between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Treasury. The former had wanted to retain freehold of the properties, which the Treasury would not accept as a “true privatisation”.
Following the row, Mr Rifkind announced the establishment of the Defence Housing Executive, which would run the homes from April 1995. The homes would remain in the public sector as a result.
Mike Robinson, chief executive of the defunct Crown Housing Trust, was rumoured to be in the running to lead the new tri-service body, although the MoD refused to confirm.
15 years ago
Housing associations feared they could be ‘nationalised’ as part of a Treasury-backed review of how government grant was spent.
The Housing Corporation’s review was seen as a threat to associations’ control over their surpluses.
Jon Rouse, chief executive of the Housing Corporation, told Inside Housing that the review would examine whether the money made when associations sold government-funded developments could be better used.
“This is public money coming out of the other end of the development process and it is legitimate that the taxpayer should know where it is going.”
Deputy chief executive Neil Hadden said the review would be “no holds barred”, adding: “We are looking at everything about these funds: what they are used for; whether they should be retained by the association or brought back to the corporation or government; or whether they could be extended to fund neighbourhood management.”
The National Housing Federation, however, was pushing for the review to give housing associations greater freedom over how to spend grant.
Picture: Guzelian
Five years ago
Associations were warning the government that enforced changes to how landlords recoup rent arrears under Universal Credit could force tenants into the arms of loan sharks.
At the time of writing, the Department for Work and Pensions was due to start deducting up to 20% of tenants’ non-housing Universal Credit payments if they fell into two months of rent arrears. That money would then be paid to landlords.
But Tony Stacey (above), chair of PlaceShapers, said the proposed reductions were “too much” and could push hard-up tenants to look for short-term solutions.
“[Tenants] will be pushed into all kinds of measures, starvation diets and so on, stealing,” he said.
“We don’t want that. We want sustainable tenancies.”
