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Short on time? Monday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Homes England introduces new flexible grant initiative
Homes England has announced that it will allow housing associations to receive almost all the available grant for a scheme up front.
The new arrangements allow 95% of the cash to be paid at the land acquisition stage, with 5% following on completion of the new housing.
This contrasts to the usual split of 40% up front, 25% when the scheme starts and 35% on completion.
The new funding model is designed to accelerate the delivery of new homes.
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Northern Ireland deal pledges to increase social housing
The return of politicians to Stormont looks to be a key moment for the social housing sector, with proposals agreed to boost investment in social housing and help ease the crisis at the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
It has been almost three years since the power-sharing deal in Northern Ireland collapsed, with virtually no meaningful policymaking in the interim.
The 90,000-home landlord, which holds most of Northern Ireland’s social housing, had faced ‘de-investing’ in its stock if a solution could not be brokered.
Lunchtime long read
What does the deal in Northern Ireland mean for its social housing sector? Nicola McCrudden, a consultant at Campbell Tickell, runs through the detail of the deal, which she says will see “housing prioritised by government” if agreed.
Quote of the day
We owe it to the thousands of homeless families and rough sleepers to seize this opportunity.
David Bogle, chief executive of Hightown Housing Association, considers how the sector should work with the new government on homelessness.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
A fascinating report in the Mail Online claims that there is tension between housing secretary Robert Jenrick and housing minister Esther McVey over the use of government grant.
Mr Jenrick wants to focus on first-time buyers, while Ms McVey – described as “blue collar” in the report – wants to spend the cash on council housing, particularly for new Conservative voters in so-called Labour heartlands.
The report, which describes the dispute as a “class war”, quotes a Whitehall source as saying: “It’s a difficult dynamic. Jenrick wants to help more people to buy their own homes, he wants the government to focus on owner-occupation. But Esther says we should be building more council and social housing. There’s no love lost there.”
Elsewhere, the ongoing scandal over the leasehold model has moved on to the cost of extending leases and the concept of ‘marriage value’, which requires some of the boosted value from extending the lease to be paid to the freeholder. A report by the BBC notes that many original Right to Buy homes sold on 125-year leases will be approaching the point where an extension is required.
And many outlets report on a Local Government Association (LGA) report about office-to-residential conversions that says 13,500 affordable homes have been lost as a result of not requiring affordable contributions at these schemes.
Local news
Picture: Getty
The Liverpool Echo reports on the rejection of an extension to the council’s landlord licensing scheme, which housing secretary Robert Jenrick has refused to extend for a further five years.
Place North West reports on Salford's plans to tighten up its local plan with regard to the affordable housing requirements from developers.
And the Kenilworth Weekly News reports on a delay to a major 620-home scheme in the area.
The big issues that impact the regeneration and delivery of social housingSPONSORED ARTICLE
