You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
The Week in Housing: Autumn Budget reaction, new details on Homes England’s funding approach and Inside Housing expands coverage
The Week in Housing is our weekly newsletter, rounding up the most important headlines for housing professionals. Sign up below to get it direct to your inbox every Friday
The Week in Housing: Autumn Budget reaction, new details on Homes England’s funding approach and Inside Housing expands coverage #UKhousingA weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals #UKhousingGood afternoon.
The chancellor delivered the delayed Autumn Budget on Wednesday. Despite additional welfare spending and cuts to energy bills to provide relief for many in social housing, some in the sector believe Rachel Reeves could have done more.
We rounded up the sector’s reaction here, but in short, the consensus was that the Budget was “meaningful, disappointing” and a “missed opportunity”.
It seemed that even the Office for Budget Responsibility had become impatient waiting for the Budget as it accidentally published its response to the fiscal statement well before Ms Reeves stood in the House of Commons to deliver it. This error sent the Commons into disarray, but the chancellor eventually rallied to set out a £26bn package of tax rises that she hopes will plug the multibillion-pound gap in the Treasury’s finances.
We have the six key takeaways from the Budget here.
In a busy week, Inside Housing launched Inside Housing Living, an online publication covering institutionally funded housing.
The site launched with an exclusive survey tracking the progress and pipelines of the Fastest-Growing For-Profits 2025.
Read more
With housing front and centre of the government’s ambitions, Inside Housing also upgraded our sustainability coverage and launched our Cities Encyclopaedia.
Our reporters have been in and out of sessions at the HOMES UK conference as part of Housing Week, London. During one session, the deputy chair of the Public Accounts Committee told attendees the government will need to find “some extra money” for social housebuilding to meet its 1.5 million new homes target.
Homes England will be “open” to conversations around grant rates with housing providers facing viability issues, the agency’s affordable homes director said in another session, before bidding opens for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Homes England’s chief investment officer revealed more details on the National Housing Bank and confirmed that it will always offer the continuous market engagement route, ahead of the launch in April.
Back in parliament, during an MP-led inquiry session, Fiona MacGregor, chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), was forced to defend the regulator against an accusation made by a select committee chair that its inspection regime is “light touch”.
Prior to those rebuttals, it was reported that a council in Greater Manchester failed the RSH’s consumer standards, partly due to how it is operating the private finance initiative contracts used to manage stock.
With Awaab’s Law now in effect, Inside Housing looked at the initial impact on social landlords and how they prepared.
That preparation obviously comes with a cost. Platform Housing Group reported a drop in half-year margins after its social housing maintenance bill jumped 35% as result of it tackling a backlog of Awaab’s Law cases.
Large London landlord Peabody reported a significant rise in new home completions, alongside a rise in turnover and surplus that led to an improved operating margin.
Following the admission by housing secretary Steve Reed that the government’s long-awaited homelessness strategy might not be published until after Christmas, the latest statistics showed that the number of households in England made homeless due to their social rented tenancy ending rose by over 11% last year.
This increase came as new research by membership charity Homeless Link found that more than 80% of people experiencing homelessness are dealing with multiple “debilitating” physical health issues.
Two pieces of research highlighted the value of social housebuilding. Building 20,000 new affordable homes in Wales over the next four years would deliver £3.6bn in net present value benefits for residents and communities over the next 30 years, according to a report by Community Housing Cymru and Savills. And more than £5bn a year could be added to the economy in England if the government meets its social housing targets in the next decade, according to a study commissioned by a trio of London housing associations.
In Northern Ireland, communities minister Gordon Lyons announced plans to clamp down on social housing tenancy fraud.
At the same time, a 15% drop in the nation’s new home completions over the past year has been described as a “clear red flag” by the Chartered Institute of Housing.
There was a warning from a property lawyer that the government will not be able to tell if the rent appeal tribunal system is overwhelmed with cases following the Renters’ Rights Act in May, due to a lack of any baseline data.
A late intervention by Tower Hamlets MP Rushanara Ali attempted to halt the transfer of a council-owned block to an airspace developer previously expelled from a professional body for being a “significant risk to the public”.
Finally, we revealed the winners of this year’s Inside Housing Development Awards.
Have a great weekend.
Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing
Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk
Editor’s picks: five stories you may have missed
L&Q upgrades £60m repairs service amid £3.7m investment in customer service team
New designate chief executive appointed to Hertfordshire landlord ahead of merger
GLA and developer launch paid scheme for young Londoners interested in housing
Major house builder completes deal for more than 1,200 homes
Landlord offers support after resident dies in sheltered housing block fire
Sign up to Inside Housing’s Week in Housing newsletter
Sign up to Inside Housing’s Week in Housing newsletter, rounding up all the big sector news from the past seven days.
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters.
Related stories
