Morning Briefing: RBKC goes on the attack

In the news

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the council which owned Grenfell Tower, has gone on the attack this morning – hitting out at housing associations as it publishes a policy document outlining its new approach to housing.

The council has accused associations of “immorality” over the process of selling off high-value homes and replacing them with lower-value properties in other areas. It specifically addresses Clarion – the UK’s largest housing association – which has been planning a controversial regeneration of the Sutton Estate in Chelsea.

Also this morning, we report on a joint plan by London councils to set up a company to acquire homes for temporary accommodation.

A long read article in the Evening Standard addresses the rise of Blackstone in the social housing sector. The giant property investor bought for-profit housing association Sage in January and has been making waves and dividing opinion about its impact since.

Some interesting detail on one council’s plans to use borrowing cap freedoms is reported on the Room 151 council finance website this morning, which says Cheltenham will switch plans to build new council houses from its ALMO to its Housing Revenue Account, and use the ALMO to build open market homes.

The government has been flaunting investment opportunities in the UK’s property sector at the MIPIM conference, offering a list of £2bn-worth of schemes, which include many large housing projects.

Labour’s attempt to use a parliamentary mechanism known as a ‘humble address’ to get the government to release statistics on the impact of Universal Credit has failed – losing by 299 votes to 279, reports the Independent.

Also on Universal Credit, a comment piece in The Guardian frets that the welfare policy will drive people to the far right, and the BBC considers the debate about whether the benefit should be paid monthly or weekly.

House prices grew at their slowest rate in five years – with nationwide growth of 3.2% and a marginal fall of 0.2% in London, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics released today.