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The Week in Housing: Heylo and NHG under pressure as gilt rates rise
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The Week in Housing: Heylo and NHG under pressure as gilt rates rise #UKhousingGood afternoon.
The week started with news that Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) is set to pull out of future phases of a large estate regeneration scheme following resident concerns that progress has been too slow.
NHG reported a £129.4m deficit last year, and has since decided that it is no longer accepting non-binding nominations for housing from London councils.
There is pressure on the sector from the government to be ambitious under the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, but it is clear that landlords are having to make difficult choices over their existing stock and housebuilding commitments.
Social housing starts fell 16% in the three months up until the end of February. Plus, an economist this week warned that those decisions are not being made any easier, as the predicted fall in housing sector borrowing costs after the 10-year rent settlement appears to have been “wiped out” by a surge in gilt rates following the Iran war.
Private capital has flooded the sector. For-profit shared ownership specialist Heylo Housing Group was a frontrunner under this model, yet this week it confirmed that four of its subsidiaries, with responsibility for a third of its homes, have entered administration.
Following this news, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) immediately put Heylo on its ‘gradings under review’ list.
The landlord had already been handed non-compliant G3/V3 grades by the RSH, due to concerns that this business model posed a “significant risk” to the for-profit’s ability to protect its social housing assets and “ensure its long-term viability”.
These shocks to the sector come as Fiona MacGregor, the outgoing chief executive of the RSH, highlighted the role of “dominant individuals” when landlords are facing governance issues.
In other regulatory news, the Building Safety Regulator revealed plans to allow fire door work to bypass the need for formal approval from building control bodies in England and Wales.
The Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill passed with the aim of raising £450m to fix unsafe cladding. The Senedd also passed the Building Safety (Wales) Bill, one of the largest pieces of legislation ever considered by the assembly.
At the same time, the Welsh government has commissioned Savills to research the benefits and risks of a rent convergence strategy as part of its reworking of social housing rent and service charges over the next decade.
Northern Irish landlords are wondering where the additional funding is going to come from to support the delivery of a reformed Decent Homes Standard.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors updated its service charge management code in order to reflect the “growing importance” of fire and building safety.
And the Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration at Bristol City Council after the landlord made a resident homeless and disposed of his belongings without consent.
In a long read, we look back to two years ago, when councils were given a responsibility to provide cots in temporary accommodation. But with babies still dying, we investigated how councils have responded to the new child safety clauses in the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
We also reported this week that one city council was left having to backtrack on a decision and agree to pay compensation to families stuck in B&Bs for months.
There was interesting research out of King’s College London, which revealed that offering ‘no strings attached’ cash to young people leaving care reduces the risk of homelessness and helps them find stable housing.
Inside Housing spoke to the clients of a Birmingham-based homelessness service, who are helping to design an app to prevent drug deaths.
We also spoke to one Northern landlord about how it received the highest regulatory grade and is working with top sports teams to end child poverty.
Have a great weekend.
Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing
Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk
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Chancellor announces £1.7bn investment in Northern cities to speed up regeneration
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