The Housing Podcast is a production of Inside Housing magazine, the UK’s leading publication for the social and affordable housing sector. Listen to find out more about the key issues in housing today, with input from the sector’s leading voices
Will Brexit stop us building affordable homes?
As parliament gridlocks over Brexit, the Housing Podcast team looks at how the development of new affordable homes could be affected.
With interviews with Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of London First; Rebecca Larkin, senior economist at the Construction Products Association; and Nicholas Harris, chief executive of Stonewater.
The Housing Podcast is now also available on iTunes
Review of the year 2019
As the year draws to an end, The Housing Podcast team wraps up the last 12 months, battles it out in a housing quiz, and looks ahead to 2020.
What did the Grenfell Inquiry phase one report say?
This week, Sir Martin Moore-Bick published his Phase One report from the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. The 838-page report focuses on the events of that dreadful night: how the blaze started, how it spread so ferociously through the building, and how organisations including the emergency services responded.
Sir Martin has also produced recommendations aimed at preventing similar disasters from happening again. Our team has spent the last few days picking through the report, and in this episode of The Housing Podcast, we discuss the key points.
As Boris Johnson takes over at Number 10 Downing Street and appoints his new cabinet, the Housing Podcast team present their first ever 'emergency' episode, looking at whether he is set to shift the housing policy dial back towards home ownership.
The Homes Fit for Human Habitation Act is on the statute book. But what is it for? What does it do? And will it work?
Karen Buck MP, who guided the bill through parliament, along with housing lawyers Giles Peaker and Justin Bates – who wrote it – sit down with The Housing Podcast to answer all this and more.
Theresa May scraps the cap: what does it mean?
To the delight of councils across the country, Theresa May announced this week that she will scrap the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap.
With the help of Eamon McGoldrick of the National Federation of ALMOs, in this week’s episode of The Housing Podcast we discuss the history of this contentious area of housing policy and look at what happens now.
The true cost of homelessness
Inside Housing has conducted in-depth research into the amount councils are spending on temporary accommodation for homeless people, with shocking results.
In this episode of The Housing Podcast, we take a look at the financial aspect of homelessness and discuss the figures with Matt Downie, director of policy and external affairs at Crisis.
Rating the Social Housing Green Paper
The Housing Podcast team is joined by David Pipe from the Chartered Institute of Housing and housing columnist Jules Birch to rank the proposals in the Social Housing Green Paper out of 10. Edited by Luke Barratt.
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The supported housing saga
The government’s announcement this week that it will drop plans to change the way supported housing is funded brings to a close a nearly three-year cycle of lobbying against these proposals.
This week, The Housing Podcast looks back at this story, which began with a throwaway line in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement in 2015.
A brief history of council housing
In this week’s episode of The Housing Podcast we speak to John Boughton, social historian and author of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing, about the five phases of local authority housing – starting in the East End of London in 1900.
Who has been the best housing minister since 2010?
The Housing Podcast team gets together to rank all the housing ministers of the modern Tory era, from Grant Shapps to Dominic Raab. There are a lot of them. Edited by Luke Barratt.
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The Hackitt Review
This week, Dame Judith Hackitt released the findings of her building regulations review, commissioned by the government in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire last June.
Featuring an interview with Dame Judith, the team takes a look at what was in the report – and why some people were less than impressed.
Brexit and the social housing sector: the key risks As the tortuous process of exiting the European Union approaches its denouement, the country remains in a state of uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen. Peter Apps recaps the key risks to the social housing sector
Downturn: why is L&Q cutting its surplus in half and what does it mean for the sector After L&Q revealed it is likely to cut its surplus by £158m this year, Peter Apps asks what this means for the financial model which has defined the housing association sector since 2010
What housing associations are doing to stress-test for Brexit With the UK’s departure from the EU looming, Luke Barratt looks at what housing associations have been doing to prepare
Regulator writes to housing associations with no-deal Brexit warning The regulator has issued a warning to housing associations over the threat of a no-deal Brexit, outlining key risk areas including shortages of crucial materials, a housing market crash and difficulties accessing ‘business-critical’ data
Sector draws up contingency plans for no-deal Brexit The country’s largest housing associations are putting in place contingency plans to protect the future of their organisations
How would the sector cope with a no-deal Brexit? As uncertainty around Brexit mounts and a no-deal looms, Inside Housing asks what it could mean for the housing sector
Current grant system won’t work in a falling market The government needs to think again about grant to prevent housing association development from collapsing in a falling market, writes Matthew Bailes.
S&P would downgrade half its rated housing associations after no-deal Brexit The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has said it will downgrade associations it rates if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal
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