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From the archive – sector mourns loss of institute president
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
The sector was mourning the loss of Institute of Housing president Elis Fisher, who died the previous month in Hong Kong.
Ms Fisher died five weeks after being injured in a car accident during the annual visit of the president to the institute’s Hong Kong branch.
The 59-year-old had been elected to the presidency in June of the previous year as the culmination of a 38-year career in housing.
Michael Elbro, vice-president of the institute, paid tribute to his colleague, saying: “We have lost both a valued colleague and our president, cut down in the middle of her year of office. Elis made a unique contribution. She will be remembered as a kindly person who made a point of getting to know the people she worked with. In council, she always had wisdom to offer or a positive suggestion to make.”
20 years ago
A study into the impact of the Right to Buy found that the controversial policy had concentrated social exclusion on council estates and creamed off the best housing.
The report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that better-off tenants buying their homes and moving out had pooled the poorest households in the social rented sector. New owners selling homes quickly also created a high turnover on some estates.
The report’s author, Alan Murie, also pointed to the regional discrepancy of the effect of the Right to Buy, with purchasers in some areas making large profits, while others were unable to sell their homes at all.
In a prescient comment, Mr Murie added that the discounts available for flats in particular were “excessive” and would create problems in the future. He called for a revamp of the discounts for apartments or the introduction of a flat rate purchase grant.
“It’s disappointing that the government’s review of the Right to Buy has tinkered with the discount formulae rather than addressing the system’s complexity,” he said.
Picture: Guzelian
10 years ago
A trio of cash-rich housing associations agreed to bail-out loans to struggling competitors following a plea from the regulator.
Affinity Sutton, Circle Anglia and L&Q told the Tenant Services Authority that they were willing in principle to lend money to peers facing financial difficulties.
In addition to this agreement, L&Q said it would make a unilateral loan of up to £20m to Genesis Housing Group. However, Anu Vedi, its chief executive, said the L&Q facility would be a “back-up”, claiming that the association was expecting to finalise £150m of commercial loans.
David Montague (above), chief executive of L&Q, said housing associations “have a responsibility towards the sector to make sure we support each other”.
