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Morning Briefing: housing associations accused of affordable homes sell-off
Housing associations in London have been accused of “selling off” affordable homes to the private sector in a piece in The Guardian today
In the news
The article leads off analysis by Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, which found that associations have made at least £82.3m from auctioning homes through Savills estate agents in five London boroughs since 2013.
A total of 153 properties were sold in: Westminster, Brent, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea.
Ms Buck, who tabled the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Bill, said: “I’m dealing with a family who are statutorily overcrowded and in the highest medical priority and I haven’t been able to get them moved in over eight years.
“That’s because housing associations [in general] say they don’t have the stock in the area and yet they’re still selling off homes.”
It comes as another Labour MP Andy Slaughter, former shadow housing minister, submits a private members’ bill to extend the Freedom of Information Act to public contractors and housing associations, per The Guardian.
Unsurprisingly, with tomorrow the one-year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, a number of stories relating to fire safety run this morning.
The BBC reports that councils in London have spent £100m on fire safety measures in the year since the blaze.
The spending, recorded by 24 boroughs, includes £1.5m in Barnet to replace fire doors manufactured by the same company as the ones in Grenfell, and £33m in Camden.
Meanwhile, the NHS has said it expects to spend more than £10m on mental health treatment within two years for victims of the atrocity on 14 June 2017, with around 700 people currently being treated.
And a woman who lives in a tower block in Salford with similar cladding to Grenfell has told the BBC she has been frightened and depressed waiting for its removal.
Across the River Severn, Wales’ chief fire advisor has warned that cladding removal work at the 12 private blocks in the country with unsafe aluminium composite material systems could take years because of disputes over who pays, according to the BBC.
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In other news, the BBC reports on a homelessness campaign run by children and young people supported by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England.
The campaign, called Change It!, aims to stop children being placed in unsuitable B&Bs and temporary accommodation.
Elsewhere, the chair of a residents association in Milton Keynes has stepped down over a row with the council about its plans to regenerate seven of its estates, affecting 8,500 homes.
Barrie Wilde of the Fullers Slade Residents Association said the council was not engaging with local people, per the BBC.
Milton Keynes Council admitted that it has made mistakes and said that the plans would be put on hold “to allow time to reflect on residents’ wishes”.
Finally, Construction News runs a comment piece from Lucy Thomas, a planning expert, and Richard Vernon of law firm Ashurst, on whether tenant ballots on estate regenerations can work in practice.
On social media
Tomorrow marks a year since the tragic events that turned our world upside down. The Grenfell Community will be gathering at the Tower near The Methodist Church Silchester Road, W11 from 11am to observe the national silence together. We welcome all to join us.💚💚💚
— Grenfell United (@GrenfellUnited)Tomorrow marks a year since the tragic events that turned our world upside down. The Grenfell Community will be gathering at the Tower near The Methodist Church Silchester Road, W11 from 11am to observe the national silence together. We welcome all to join us.\uD83D\uDC9A\uD83D\uDC9A\uD83D\uDC9A
— Grenfell United (@GrenfellUnited) June 13, 2018
What’s on
- Prime Minister’s Questions will take place in the Commons at 12pm
