The Week in Housing: Steve Coogan disrupts MIPIM as Inside Housing Living launches new report

With attendees making good use of their Saniflo 33s aboard their yachts, the Liverpool City Region launched a £2bn investment fund to help fast-track housebuilding, while setting out plans for a new MDC.

Devolving funding to city regions is a major part of the government’s ambition for building 1.5 million new homes. Positively, Homes England said it has started to see ambitious bids come through in the first weeks of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) opening, with a number of housing associations “really raising their game”.

Danielle Gillespie, the agency’s new executive regional director for the North West, said the scale of ambition from partners is “running into many thousands of homes over a 10-year cycle”.

Ms Gillespie attended the property conference along with Jo Nugent, executive regional director for the Midlands, both of whom were appointed as two of five directors under Homes England’s new regional operating model.

You can read our full round-up of MIPIM coverage here.

Setting its stall out this week was Tower Hamlets Council, which appealed to development and investment partners to help it deliver ambitious plans for 52,000 new homes in the coming years.

This was followed by Hounslow Council. The west London borough has set out a 15-year ambition to regenerate the ‘Golden Mile’ stretch of the Great West Road with up to 14,000 homes.

Another conference in Leeds heard why councils need better borrowing conditions to invest in their stock, including “ultra-low interest rates” in line with other social landlords.

In a recorded message at the Leeds event, housing secretary Steve Reed encouraged councils to use the strategic partnerships route when bidding for funding through the SAHP.

The government also named its first advisory panel for supported housing, and introduced new transparency rules to improve fairness in the land market.

To help tackle the housing crisis in Wales, a thinktank has argued that more existing dwellings and non-residential buildings in the country should be converted into social homes.

In Scotland, there was a call for more support from Holyrood for co-operative and community housing by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing.

Amid changes to grant funding, the rent settlement and low-interest loans, Inside Housing looked at why the sector’s finances are in a very different place now than they were a year ago.

We also launched a survey on the sector’s thoughts on race and immigration in social housing.

Social landlords that own large panel system blocks are being urged to fill in a survey to set out the challenge the sector faces and what support is needed from the government.

There was a stark reminder that social renters are four times as likely to be in furniture poverty than homeowners, but just 3% of new social lets are furnished.

For first-time buyers, the authors of a new report are calling for a developer-funded, government-backed scheme to help people get on the property ladder.

Finally, we looked at how some in the sector are hoping the UK government can adapt and import the tax credit model from the US, to close the gap between how many affordable homes the country needs and how much grant the Treasury can distribute.

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

Former Homes England chair appointed Reform housing spokesperson

Section 106 proposals under NPPF could reduce housing provision, sector bodies warn

Government delays EPC reforms until next year

Southern targets improved tenant satisfaction before restarting development under new five-year strategy

Former Vistry accountants to be investigated by financial watchdog