Morning Briefing: huge fire rips through London flats
A huge fire ripped through a block of flats in north-east London last night, with firefighters battling the blaze for hours, and other housing news
Morning Briefing: Last night, a huge fire ripped through a block of flats in north-east London, with firefighters battling the blaze for hours #ukhousingIn the news
The Evening Standard has full coverage of the fire, to which firefighters were called at just before 10.40pm on Monday night.
According to firefighters, a woman was rescued from the first floor of the block on Harry Zeital Way in Upper Clapton and there were no injuries. Inside Housing’s coverage of the incident is here.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that police are stepping up their investigations into the Grenfell Tower fire, interviewing the London Fire Brigade.
The fire service said it gave an interview “as a body, rather than an individual” in relation to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Read the full story here.
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Elsewhere, The Guardian has covered research by the Chartered Institute of Housing which found that homeless people are being denied access to affordable housing because they are too poor.
The report said that social landlords are routinely excluding homeless people who are deemed at risk of rent arrears. The allocations process is “failing those in greatest need”, the report said.
The same newspaper also carries an investigation into the practice known as ‘cuckooing’, through which county lines gangs exploit vulnerable people and use their homes to sell drugs.
According to The Guardian, there has been a spike in the number of English homes being shut down because of drug dealing or substance abuse on site.
Inside Housing ran a feature on the phenomenon last year, speaking to social landlords to discover how they are responding.
Just last month, a housing association won a case in the Court of Appeal over its decision to evict a disabled man who police suspected was a ‘cuckooing’ victim.
In local news, the BBC has a story on South Somerset District Council, which has been branded “immoral” for refusing to take on maintenance work.
Residents say that the local authority’s decision means they are being charged twice, through council tax and maintenance fees.
And for anyone who has been following the saga of Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud’s development project, The Guardian has another update.
Neighbours of Mr McCloud’s flagship development in Hampshire, which was supposed to be completed last year, said it is far from being finished and resembles a “bomb site”.
In other celebrity housing news, a little further afield, Kanye West’s attempt to build affordable housing in California has taken another hit.
Entertainment news site TMZ reports that the homes built by Mr West’s ‘Yeezy Home’ venture have been torn down after he did not get the proper permits to build them.
On social media
The Times’ property and professional services correspondent is none too impressed by Esther McVey’s recent speech.
Esther McVey’s speech at the RESI summit last week, just published on t.co/BXPCYIWofZ, is cringeworthy. Gets worse as you read on🤦♀️t.co/9cgv142qPv pic.twitter.com/gVt0Tjmuyb
— Louisa Clarence-Smith (@LouisaClarence)>Esther McVey's speech at the RESI summit last week, just published on https://t.co/BXPCYIWofZ, is cringeworthy. Gets worse as you read on\uD83E\uDD26♀️https://t.co/9cgv142qPv pic.twitter.com/gVt0Tjmuyb
— Louisa Clarence-Smith (@LouisaClarence) September 16, 2019
What’s on
Inside Housing is today hosting a one-day ‘Future of Work’ conference for HR and organisational development professionals in the housing sector
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