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Morning Briefing: residents evacuated after fire at London tower block
A fire broke out at a tower block close to the Olympic Village in east London in the early hours of this morning, The Sun reports
In the news
Around 100 people had evacuated the building by the time fire crews arrived at the scene, but London Fire Brigade said no one was injured.
It is not yet certain whether the building is a social housing tower block, or who it is owned by.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that residents of New Capital Quay in Greenwich, a private development with Grenfell-style cladding, have been told the value of their flats has collapsed from £475,000 to just £50,000.
A dispute is ongoing about who should foot the huge bill to replace the cladding at the Galliard Homes development.
In other news, research from Citizens Advice suggests that 250,000 people are living in substandard accommodation without complaining for fear of being evicted.
That is more than one in four private tenants in England who have experienced problems but refrained from telling their landlord in case of repercussions, according to Huff Post.
This comes as the National Fire Chiefs Council told BBC Radio 5 Live that short-term let properties are raising the risk of serious fires.
Tourism industry leaders warned that a “Grenfell-style incident” could happen without further action.
The Independent runs an exclusive this morning based on research from charity Homeless Link, which found that bed spaces for single homeless people have fallen by a fifth since 2010 – while rough sleeping has risen 169%.
That is joined by a piece for Politics Home from Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, about the impact of welfare reforms on youth homelessness.
In The Times this morning, Clare Foges writes a piece condemning Labour for what she sees as its “exploitation” of the Grenfell disaster.
She argues that “to paint what has happened since as disdainful or neglectful is absurd”.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times runs an opinion piece from a director of a private property company calling for land market reforms to solve the housing crisis.
On social media
In case you missed it, housing minister Dominic Raab moved to defend his comments about immigration on Friday via Twitter, after the government published the research on which his stats were based:
MHCLG publishes evidence cited by Raab on immigration and house prices. Shows minor impact (+£11k) compared to rising real incomes t.co/0yIOBpwVru pic.twitter.com/0H6dDGfWtr
— Jules Birch (@jules_birch)MHCLG publishes evidence cited by Raab on immigration and house prices. Shows minor impact (+£11k) compared to rising real incomes https://t.co/0yIOBpwVru pic.twitter.com/0H6dDGfWtr
— Jules Birch (@jules_birch) April 13, 2018
Appreciate your rigour, Jules, and this should be debated. For completeness: I was asked specifically about the impact of immigration; I did indeed say care was needed with the data; and I was right that immigration put av prices up by ~20%. We need a balanced approach.
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab)Appreciate your rigour, Jules, and this should be debated. For completeness: I was asked specifically about the impact of immigration; I did indeed say care was needed with the data; and I was right that immigration put av prices up by ~20%. We need a balanced approach.
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) April 13, 2018
What’s on
A general debate on ‘Housing and Homes’ will take place in the Commons late this afternoon.
