You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Morning Briefing: NHF boss demands fire safety focus from Johnson
National Housing Federation (NHF) boss Kate Henderson has called on Boris Johnson to prioritise post-Grenfell fire safety work
In the news
Writing in The Times today, Ms Henderson said the country’s need for new homes “must not distract from urgent action to fix a broken system of building safety”.
She demanded that the new prime minister should make testing processes more transparent, fund the cost of fixing building safety, and take a “strategic, nationwide approach” to replacing dangerous cladding.
Mr Johnson may also be interested in The Guardian’s story today on research from Santander, which found that 70% of young people now believe the dream of homeownership is over for their generation.
In distressing news, the Evening Standard reports that a man has been found dead at the east London bus stop where he had been sleeping rough for months.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that nearly half of young LGBT people left homeless after coming out are from religious backgrounds.
Elsewhere, in Scotland, Angus Council is set to introduce a choice-based lettings system for its housing allocations, according to The Courier.
In Wales, the South Wales Argus reports that Monmouthshire County Council underspent its social housing grant by nearly £200,000 last year despite more than 3,000 households sitting on its waiting list.
Fraud investigators at Hull City Council recovered 24 council homes last year after scams worth a combined £432,000, according to Hull Live.
In Redditch, the town’s MP Rachel Maclean has demanded that Persimmon Homes is not given planning permission for a new 960-home scheme until it pays £521,000 in outstanding Section 106 money to the council, per the Bromsgrove Advertiser.
Liverpool’s cabinet member for housing has warned the rise in homes in multiple occupation across the city has led to a “crisis” of social problems in some areas, says the Liverpool Echo.
Historian John Boughton has been published in The Guardian calling for a cross-party consensus on funding for council homes, while construction expert James Somerville writes for The Conversation about how social housing build standards fell over the past 100 years.
Similarly, the Independent runs a picture gallery looking at how council estates have changed since the Addison Act 1919.
Finally, The Times’s assistant editor, Anne Ashworth, has written a piece pondering what Mr Johnson’s housing policy will look like – predicting stamp duty cuts, a continuation of Help to Buy and a focus on modular housebuilding.
On social media
New housing secretary Robert Jenrick has welcomed some new housebuilding figures:
🏠NEW HOUSING STAT
— Robert Jenrick MP (@RobertJen
|/>🔹46,000 new builds in England in Q2 2019
🔹246,000 over the past year
🔹More than any year since 2008
🔹Up 9.3% on 2018!
Great news. We’ll keep on getting Britain building! 👍19\uD83C\uDFE0NEW HOUSING STATS\uD83C\uDFE0
— Robert Jenrick MP (@RobertJenrick) July 31, 2019
\uD83D\uDD3946,000 new builds in England in Q2 2019
\uD83D\uDD39246,000 over the past year
\uD83D\uDD39More than any year since 2008
\uD83D\uDD39Up 9.3% on 2018!
Great news. We’ll keep on getting Britain building! \uD83D\uDC4D
While the Local Government Association is leading the way on tweets marking 100 years since the Addison Act today:
🏠 🏠🏠 🏠🏠
— Loca
🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠
🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠
🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠
🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠 🏠
🏠 🏠🏠 🏠🏠
Join in with our celebrations today by using #CouncilHousing100 🏠ef_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2019\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0\uD83C\uDFE0
— Local Government Association (@LGAcomms) July 31, 2019
\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0
\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0
\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0
\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0
\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0\uD83C\uDFE0 \uD83C\uDFE0\uD83C\uDFE0
Join in with our celebrations today by using #CouncilHousing100 \uD83C\uDFE0
