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From the archive – tenants welcome government cash for co-operatives
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
Tenant groups welcomed an announcement from the government to provide £3.25m to develop housing co-operatives and other resident participation schemes.
Environment minister Christopher Chope said that tenants would be able to get assistance directly from the Department of Environment and the local authority, rather than through development agencies.
The proposals followed an earlier review of how housing co-operatives were funded, which suggested that 75% of their money should come from the department, with the remainder provided by local authorities.
“We are pleased that the government has taken up the need to look at promotional activities and that tenants will get cash directly,” said Marianne Hood, national director at Tpas.
20 years ago
Homeless people were facing being forced off the streets under plans unveiled by Louise Casey, head of the Rough Sleepers Unit.
The new national strategy aimed to encourage people to come inside voluntarily by offering new hostels and specialist help for those with alcohol, drug or mental health problems. But it also enforced a ‘responsibility to come in’ on those who did not respond, and said that organisations working on the streets, including the police, must “persuade” them to do so, Ms Casey said. In addition, charities providing soup runs would be expected to “find other ways” of helping rough sleepers.
Ms Casey was planning a series of shelters to provide basic accommodation throughout the year, with contact and assessment teams to help people off the streets.
Day centres, specialist workers and a ‘one-stop’ benefit advice centre would also be funded by the unit.
But Jon Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the National Homeless Alliance, warned that if a number of services were provided in a particular area, people would be attracted there.
Picture: Chris McAndrew
10 years ago
Work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper (above) announced plans to curb the soaring housing benefit bill by capping rents used to calculate benefit rates and excluding the highest-value properties from the system.
A government consultation document proposed that people would be able to choose whether to have the money paid to them or directly to their landlord – and suggested that in the long term, housing benefit could become part of a single welfare payment.
The government also announced a ‘transition into work payment’, under which claimants would continue to receive housing benefit for three months after starting a job, a move intended to ensure people were better off in employment.
