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Short on time? Thursday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Homes England supports new UK housing fund to be launched by national housing association and global asset management giant
Inside Housing can reveal that a new UK housing fund is set to be launched by a global asset management giant and housing association Home Group – with the government potentially directly investing.
The government’s housing delivery agency, Homes England, has recommended that it takes an equity investment in the new fund, set to be launched by BMO Real Estate Partners (BMOREP) with Home Group.
It’s understood the new fund will be used for housing delivery across the country, but neither Home Group nor BMOREP are yet able to comment on the details.
Homes England indicated to Inside Housing that the plan could be geared towards the private rented sector.
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Executive team appointed for proposed merger of Essex landlords
Two housing associations in the East of England currently in merger talks have appointed designate leaders for the proposed new organisation.
Colne Housing, a 3,000-home landlord based in Colchester, and 9,000-home Braintree-based Greenfields Community Housing announced the discussions in July last year.
Emma Palmer, chief executive of Greenfields, will be the chief executive of the merged housing association, while Sara Thakkar, chief executive of Colne, will be the organisation’s deputy chief executive.
Hattie Llewelyn-Davies has been selected chair designate of the shadow board and Dale Butcher will be the vice-chair. Ms Llewelyn-Davies is currently chair of Colne, while Mr Butcher is chair of Greenfields.
Lunchtime long read
Illustration by Jon Heal
Housing associations have long been accused of abandoning social rent to build more commercial tenures – but many would argue they can’t afford to deliver sub-market homes without subsidising them through market housing.
So who is right? Is the sector failing to deliver social rent, or is the picture more complicated? In this piece, William Hatchett analyses Inside Housing’s Biggest Builders survey to find out.
Quote of the day
This is desperately sad news. Jackie was completely committed to ending homelessness and worked tirelessly to make it happen. A great colleague who was always worth listening to. t.co/qq4bKDuF6
— David Orr (@DavidOrrCBE)This is desperately sad news. Jackie was completely committed to ending homelessness and worked tirelessly to make it happen. A great colleague who was always worth listening to. https://t.co/qqK4bKDuF6
— David Orr (@DavidOrrCBE) January 8, 2020
Former National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr has reacted to the sad news that housing campaigner and long-serving housing professional Jacqui McCluskey has died.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
The Sun publishes an exclusive interview with Robert Jenrick today, in which the housing secretary said reducing homelessness would help save Britain’s declining high streets.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that some families are being pushed into homelessness by councils miscalculating housing benefit payments and then curtailing rights of appeal, according to the BBC.
Meanwhile, The Guardian reports on house price data from the Halifax index showing that prices unexpectedly jumped 1.7% in December, taking the two-month rise to the strongest since early 2018.
In Scotland, the BBC reports that the Scottish government will give councils new powers to tackle problems caused by the rapid growth of Airbnb-style holiday lets.
Local news
Picture: Getty
Hundreds of high-rise residents in Leeds are repeating calls for government to help pay for the removal of dangerous cladding as the deadline looms for their building owners to make remediation plans, according to the Yorkshire Post. In December, the fire service threatened to shut down the 13 blocks unless steps are taken to remove their cladding.
Elsewhere, the Express & Star reports that the housing secretary believes the West Midlands can achieve its 215,000-home development target by 2031 without building on green belt land.
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