The Week in Housing: finish remediation work or face unlimited fine or prison

The government has promised to bring leaseholders and residents into their remediation plans but concern was raised this week that their views are still being overlooked.

City Hall promised that London’s new Joint Remediation Partnership Board will engage with residents and leaseholders after Inside Housing reported that none are being represented on it.

This concern about engagement came as Baroness Taylor, the Lords minister for housing and local government, said that a new national tenants’ body must move forward “as quickly as possible”.

The cost and challenge for the sector in meeting these new remediation deadlines is going to be immense. Major house builder Barratt Redrow reported a downturn in its completions due to a slowdown in its London businesses, as it posted revised remediation costs of £248m.

The new plans come as fresh data from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) revealed that 69% of applications were rejected because they lacked detail, did not show legal standards would be met, or were withdrawn by the applicant.

This data was released before Dame Judith Hackitt set out during an inquiry session how developers have “played a part” in creating the backlog of homes at the BSR due to the poor quality of their schemes.

Ahead of the government’s new remediation timeline, survivors and bereaved families of the Grenfell Tower fire have described the government’s decision to block the reintroduction of the Hillsborough Law as an “outrage”.

The anger from Grenfell United came after Labour MP Ian Byrne introduced the original version of the law to the House of Commons for a second reading.

On delivery, questions remain about the viability of the government’s new Affordable Homes Programme after an analysis found that it could deliver 56,000 fewer affordable homes compared to the previous decade.

How to ramp up development when three-quarters of construction firms struggle to recruit amid rising costs and stricter immigration laws was the subject of a new report by City & Guilds. The report suggested that a critical shortage of skilled workers will seriously impact the government’s ability to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029.

At the same time, the housing minister admitted in another inquiry session that less than 10% of an estimated 17,400 uncontracted Section 106 homes in England and Wales have gone through Homes England’s clearing service since it was created six months ago.

Matthew Pennycook also promised that the government’s long-term housing strategy will address the “financialisation of housing” and end overreliance on speculative development.

And mayors across England will get new powers to speed up housebuilding in their areas under the government’s devolution bill.

Concern does remain, however, from supported housing providers, which have warned that their services could close under planned government regulations.

There was an interesting suggestion from a report backed by Sir Vince Cable that the government should look at making “modest” changes to tax policies to help free up existing homes rather than focusing solely on new builds.

One of the Labour government’s first moves to unstick housebuilding was a new designation of ‘grey belt’, or low-quality areas on the green belt where it would now allow homes to be built. Inside Housing visited one site that has just won approval to find out more.

On the regulatory front, the Regulator of Social Housing has set out how a poor understanding of tenants’ homes has been an “important theme” in governance downgrades, as the failing has contributed to almost three-quarters of all C3 and C4 consumer judgements.

Northern Ireland’s public services watchdog launched an investigation into the country’s housing authority amid concerns over the condition of its social housing stock.

A battle between developers and unions has broken out in Scotland over proposed exemptions to private rent controls as part of a Scottish government consultation.

We also revealed that the Northern Housing Consortium will launch an inquiry into regeneration in the North later this year, and which major bank has an offer in for L&Q’s private rental business.

Have a great weekend.

Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing

Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk

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