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Short on time? Wednesday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Sanctuary Care to give staff in self-isolation full pay as number of coronavirus cases increases
All Sanctuary Care staff who are required to self-isolate due to suspected coronavirus will be given full pay, the provider of care homes has announced.
Writing in Inside Housing, Sarah Clarke-Kuehn, group director of Sanctuary Care, said all staff members who self-isolate for 14 days “will be paid for the full duration of that period based on their contractual hours”.
It comes as the provider of more than 100 care homes implements a series of measures to ensure the safety of its staff and residents as the number of identified cases of the virus increases in the UK.
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London boroughs call on chancellor to give councils more financial freedom to build homes
London boroughs have called on the chancellor to give councils more freedom to use their borrowing powers and to keep Right to Buy receipts to build more homes in the capital.
Cross-party group London Councils has written to the Treasury ahead of Today’s Budget to encourage it to make policy changes for the capital’s local authorities.
It says these would help homeless people across London, a problem it says is driven by “a chronic lack of affordable housing”.
Lunchtime long read
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Today’s Budget will be the first serious indication of how Boris Johnson’s majority government will approach the housing crisis. Peter Apps runs through the issues the sector should be looking out for.
Quote of the day
“The big worry is that the new government’s clear priority is promoting homeownership and that it hasn’t said much about investing in more rented homes.”
John Perry, senior policy advisor at the Chartered Institute of Housing, says the sector is right to be worried ahead of today's Budget.
In the papers
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Some of the UK’s best known mental health charities and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have jointly called for an independent inquiry into the deaths of scores of vulnerable people who were reliant on welfare benefits, The Guardian reports.
There is no evidence of detailed plans to help nursing homes and care workers to cope in the event of a serious coronavirus outbreak, industry leaders have told the Independent.
Meanwhile, Forbes has this useful piece on how coronavirus might affect the housing market.
Local news
Picture: Getty
Housing repairs in Portsmouth are being delayed after the recent storms because of a shortage of materials, The News reports.
New build and current council housing in Renfrewshire are to benefit from a £75m investment over the next three years after the local authority agreed on its Housing Capital Investment Plan, according to Scottish Housing News.
A local council has a “moral and financial” duty to house a 10-year-old disabled boy stuck in hospital in Manchester unnecessarily for 11 months, his MP has insisted. The Guardian has the full story.
Around the sector
A musical project is breaking down the generation gap in Glasgow – with participants ranging from aged 12 to 78.
The Intergenerational Ensemble enables young and older people to team up to write new music with the help of professional musicians.
The project is run by Loretto Care, part of Wheatley Group, and funded by Creative Scotland.
We want to hear from you! To tell us what your organisation and staff are doing, email editorial@insidehousing.co.uk.
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