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Our most-read opinion pieces of 2019
We reveal which of our comment pieces were clicked on by the most subscribers in 2019
Each week, Inside Housing brings you opinion from a wide range of people connected to the social housing sector. Our comment pieces include quick reaction pieces, analytical blogs and think-pieces written by our regular panel of IH50 columnists.
Below, in reverse order, we reveal the top 10 comment pieces most viewed by Inside Housing subscribers.
List based on total page views between 1 January and 6 December 2019, excluding articles viewed for less than 90 seconds
10. Housing associations must stop acting as if their tenants need to be saved
This provocative and challenging piece by social housing tenant and third sector development manager Elizabeth Spring kick-started a fierce debate among our readers about the language housing associations use and the way they portray their work.
9. My plan as new chief executive of Gentoo
Sunderland-based Gentoo had a difficult couple of years before 2019. New chief executive Nigel Wilson outlined his plan for the housing association, in a well-received piece he wrote in January.
8. New Value for Money metrics – how did housing associations do in the first year?
New regulations and how social landlords are responding to them are always a source of great interest to our subscribers. Acuity associate director Steve Smedley’s article in January was the first attempt to examine how well English housing associations had fared against new Value for Money metrics.
7. Why landlords must do less, not more, to offer a good service
How do you keep your residents happy? Paul Taylor, innovation coach of Bromford, made a compelling case for simplicity in this IH50 column in August.
6. If we’re not housing homeless people, who will? Why Sanctuary scrapped affordability tests
There’s arguably nothing as fundamental to a social landlord as how it decides whom to house. In October, the chief executive of one of the UK’s largest housing associations wrote a piece explaining why his organisation had opted to get rid of affordability testing. Sanctuary’s Craig Moule concluded his article by saying: “Our social purpose should not be a point of debate – it’s what we do.”
5. Boris Johnson’s reshuffle looks like a disaster for housing
It would have been surprising if Inside Housing’s long-time regular columnist Jules Birch did not appear in this list and sure enough, subscribers eagerly read his forthright views on a Boris Johnson reshuffle in July.
4. Lifetime tenancies are from a bygone era – going back to them would be a backwards step
Security of tenure – a bedrock of social housing or an idea that is outdated in an era of housing pressure? It is an issue many in the sector are passionate about and a piece in October by Jo Barrett, operations director of Thrive Homes, kick-started a debate. Ms Barrett argued that returning to lifetime tenancies, as several large associations are doing, would be a backward step.
It is fair to say that quite a few readers disagreed with Ms Barrett's argument, but many subscribers read the piece.
3. Push hard for grant and don’t rely on building homes for sale
Ever since 2010 when the government slashed capital funding for new homes, a debate has raged about the extent to which housing associations should leverage their own balance sheets and undertake commercial activity to ensure they can still finance new homes.
This piece by Alistair McIntosh, chief executive of Housing Quality Network, warned against taking too commercial an approach, given slowdowns in the housing market.
2. We got it wrong and let down our residents
The start of 2019 saw giant housing association L&Q apologise over poor repairs on one of its estates. Chief executive David Montague’s mea culpa in the form of an Inside Housing column turned out to be our second most-read comment piece of the year.
1. Nine ways to improve shared ownership – my first-hand experience as a buyer
Tell it like it is, scrap ground rent, and think hard about service charges and lease extensions…
In January, our deputy editor Pete Apps wrote this piece suggesting how to improve shared ownership.
Mr Apps’ piece, which detailed his own frustrations as he attempted to purchase a shared ownership property, was extremely popular with our readers and has become a point of reference for debate over the future of the tenure.
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