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Morning Briefing: tenant accuses councillor of ‘prejudice’ towards council housing
A campaigner hits out at a councillor over “prejudice”, real estate investment trust (REIT) Triple Point buys some more properties, plus all the rest of the housing headlines
In the news
A tenant campaigner has hit the headlines after slamming a leading Conservative councillor for a lack of understanding and prejudice towards council housing, the Swindon Advertiser reports.
Martin Wicks, who has also written several columns for Inside Housing, took exception to comments from Swindon councillor Russell Holland, who reportedly said building social housing “costs the council and taxpayers money” while building homes for sale generates revenue.
Mr Wicks, the secretary of the Swindon Tenants Campaign Group, said: “The ringfence of the Housing Revenue Account makes it illegal to use council tax for council housing.”
Construction activity fell last month amid Brexit uncertainty, reports The Guardian here.
Social housing REIT Triple Point, which buys up properties and leases them to small housing associations, has announced the acquisition of 10 supported housing properties, with a further forward deal for another one. The acquisitions are worth £12.8m in total.
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A new housebuilding company set up by Shropshire Council could start building as early as August, reports the Shropshire Star.
Several publications have reported on the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) criticism of the government’s building regulations.
The Architects’ Journal reports RIBAs comments here that the lack of action over “deeply flawed” building regulations does not honour the victims of Grenfell.
Inside Housing also has a report of the RIBA concerns, with a focus on the criticism of a lack of provisions for escape plans in the guidance. You can read it here.
“Is buying with friends the future of housing?” asks the BBC in a report about the impacts of the housing crisis on wannabe homeowners.
ITV has reported on plans to demolish a Plymouth housing estate as part of a proposed multimillion pound project.
A councillor has raised concerns about the number of “badly built new homes” in east Devon and called for government action, reports local site Radio Exe.
On social media
This week is National Careers Week and we have been asking you to tweet the reasons people should choose a career in housing.
Here is the response from one unidentified ‘housing geek’:
Every day working in housing is different, new challenges, new suitations, new residents - you genuinely can make a positive difference to people’s lives #ukhousing #NCW2019 #CIHFutures
— zjl (@z9jewell)Every day working in housing is different, new challenges, new suitations, new residents - you genuinely can make a positive difference to people's lives #ukhousing #NCW2019 #CIHFutures
— zjl (@z9jewell) March 4, 2019
It is also National Apprenticeship Week and we have been reminding people of the exclusive research we did last year to reveal the demographics of the sector’s apprentices:
It is National Apprenticeship Week - but who are the apprentices in #ukhousing ? Here is a piece we ran last year revealing exclusive data about the gender, ethnicity and roles of the sector’s apprentices #NAW2019 #NCW2019
— Inside Housing (@insidehousing)It is National Apprenticeship Week - but who are the apprentices in #ukhousing ? Here is a piece we ran last year revealing exclusive data about the gender, ethnicity and roles of the sector's apprentices #NAW2019 #NCW2019
— Inside Housing (@insidehousing) March 5, 2019
What’s on
- The National Housing Federation is hosting a webinar on diversity and culture from 3pm today
