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Morning Briefing: the story of a woman who set herself on fire in a council housing office revealed

News09.09.199.45 AM by Peter Apps

The Observer’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Melanie Smith, who set herself on fire in Barnet, leads today’s round-up of the big housing stories across the media

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Barnet House, where the incident happened (picture: Google Street View)
Barnet House, where the incident happened (picture: Google Street View)
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The Observer’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Melanie Smith, who set herself on fire in Barnet, leads today’s round-up of the big housing stories across the media #ukhousing
Morning Briefing: the story of a woman who set herself on fire in a council housing office revealed #ukhousing

The Observer runs a special report on the tragic story of the woman who set herself on fire in Barnet Council’s housing offices last year. Melanie Smith had been speaking to the council’s statutory homelessness team via an internal telephone and was facing eviction, the paper reports.

Her mother, Marie Bennett, fears vital lessons that could protect others have not been learned, the paper reports.

“This didn’t need to happen – that’s the thing that hurts,” Ms Bennett told The Guardian. “I don’t think anyone has taken on board that they could maybe prevent other deaths.”

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Dominating the morning’s news elsewhere is the huge fire in south-west London, which appears to have affected a high-end development with large amounts of timber cladding. We have a report on the story here and will keep our website updated with all the developments as they happen.

Elsewhere, a report from the New Economics Foundation and the Trades Union Congress warns that councils will have a £25bn funding gap over the coming years due to changes in grant rates, The Independent reports.

Amid the reaction to Amber Rudd’s (Brexit-related) departure from the Department for Work and Pensions over the weekend, The Guardian focuses on what her move could mean for welfare reform and Universal Credit in particular.

The Press Association reports on confident comments from the Berkeley Group about the threat to the market from Brexit. The agency says that despite “uncertainty in the macro political and economic environment” over the housing market, Berkeley said there is still decent demand for homes and good mortgage availability. Related to this, Which? runs a guide for buyers about “what is really going on” in London’s housing market.

In local news, Kent Live runs a story setting out the various plans for garden towns and other large housing developments planned for the county in coming years.

Wales Online has a story about poor-quality new build on a Persimmon development in Barry – with particular concerns over fire safety.

The Northern Echo runs a story about the history of Railway Housing Association, which began housing railway workers in Darlington 100 years ago.

And the Manchester Evening News looks at the reality of Universal Credit, after being chaperoned around a job centre by the Department for Work and Pensions to prove that it is not all bad.

On social media

Reaction to the fire in south-west London is all over Twitter:

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