Morning Briefing: a look ahead to the Spring Statement

In the news

Philip Hammond will give his Spring Statement today, and although it is expected to be quiet for housing, there are still plenty of organisations and individuals calling for the chancellor to act.

As we report here, the National Housing Federation is calling for the chancellor to make more land available for social housing, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors wants the government to develop a “proper housing strategy” with a “clear hierarchy of ideas”.

Katie Schmuecker, head of policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, writes that the chancellor should focus on tackling in-work poverty by changing Universal Credit allowances. Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith meanwhile has also said Universal Credit cuts should be reversed. Read a piece about this in The Guardian here.

Labour backbencher John Mann, the Yorkshire Post reports, has said he will table a bill to “remove the communities secretary’s ability to overrule local councils in planning developments”. He said this would allow councils to more easily establish their own housing requirements in their areas.

Elsewhere, business news website City AM and others have reported that Legal & General has agreed to complete a £600m takeover of house builder Cala Homes.

Patrick Jenkins, the financial editor of the Financial Times, has written a piece warning that high housing prices “signal a danger of reckoning to come”, pointing out that US mortgage debt is back to the level it was in 2008.

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations has published a summary of recommendations to tackle rough sleeping developed by the Homeless and Rough Sleeping Action Group (which was set up by the Scottish Government). You can read the summary here.

Finally, the Information Commissioner has criticised Kensington and Chelsea Council in west London for failing to disclose information about the Grenfell Tower fire, according to the Guardian.

On social media

There has been much interest in our report that Dominic Raab is open to considering changes to the government’s council borrowing cap policy:

@DomincRaab Please raise the cap so that councils with long waiting lists (like Islington) can build the homes their residents can afford to live in. #UKhousing t.co/8QgH0VcU3y

— Barry Edwards (@Barry_Edwards)

@DomincRaab Please raise the cap so that councils with long waiting lists (like Islington) can build the homes their residents can afford to live in. #UKhousing https://t.co/8QgH0VcU3y

— Barry Edwards (@Barry_Edwards) March 12, 2018

Just do it! t.co/RQwnGaQupc

— SHOUT (@4socialhousing)

Just do it! https://t.co/RQwnGaQupc

— SHOUT (@4socialhousing) March 12, 2018

And we are urging you to fill in our survey about harassment and discrimination in the sector:

We are surveying housing staff about harassment and discrimination in the workplace as part of our #InclusiveFutures campaign. If you get a minute please help us by completing the survey #ukhousing

— Inside Housing (@insidehousing)

We are surveying housing staff about harassment and discrimination in the workplace as part of our #InclusiveFutures campaign. If you get a minute please help us by completing the survey #ukhousing

— Inside Housing (@insidehousing) March 13, 2018

What’s on

-Philip Hammond will deliver the Spring Statement to the House of Commons from around 12.30am

-The four-day MIPIM property conference in Cannes begins