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Short on time? Friday’s housing news in five minutes

A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere

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Regulator blocked exempt accommodation providers from registering

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Last month’s report by Commonweal Housing revealed just how much of a growing issue exempt accommodation providers are. It warned that there is little accountability over the quality of housing and support tenants received.

Today’s story reveals that the Regulator of Social Housing has blocked attempts from a number of these types of organisations attempting to become registered providers.

While the majority of applicants fail to proceed with applications once they find out that rents set must be below market levels, in some cases the regulator must refuse applicants on these grounds.

Housing associations looking to offload shared ownership portfolios to institutional investors, says Savills

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Amid a growth in the number of private players trying to register as for-profit providers, Inside Housing reveals today that a number of housing associations are looking to offload their shared ownership stock to institutions.

Speaking at the Social Housing Annual Conference on Wednesday, Helen Collins, head of Savills’ Affordable Housing Consultancy, said that she is being approached by a number of housing associations looking to offload their shared ownership portfolios, as the tenure is “inefficient” as loan security.

Ms Collins also said there had been a major uptick in the number of private players coming into the affordable housing sector, with two to three investors approaching the organisation every week about potentially registering as a provider.

Lunchtime long read

Lunchtime long read
A foodbank run by Hospitality & Hope in South Shields (picture: Jack Simpson)

The big topic in this election may be Brexit, but the housing crisis remains a key issue for voters in several areas around the country. Inside Housing has travelled to the seats where housing might be what decides the result come mid-December.

Today we publish our last two constituency profiles looking at Gower in Wales and South Shields in the North East.

READ THE SOUTH SHIELDS CONSTITUENCY PROFILE

READ THE GOWER CONSTITUENCY PROFILE

READ THE WARWICK AND LEAMINGTON CONSTITUENCY PROFILE

READ THE WANTAGE CONSTITUENCY PROFILE

READ THE KENSINGTON CONSTITUENCY PROFILE

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

“The hustings showed why the one housing question in mainstream Question Time events never gets answered properly – it’s all too easy for the politicians to avoid being pinned down.”

Jules Birch gives his stinging assessment of some of the performances of the major political parties’ leading housing figures in Wednesday night’s Housing Hustings, which was held by the National Housing Federation among other housing bodies.

Read the comment piece

In the papers

In the papers

Picture: Getty

The Guardian follows up on Office for National Statistics (ONS) data which reveals that the gap between the country’s rich and poor is getting wider.

The ONS data has found that overall personal wealth grew to a combined total of £14.6tn, a rise of 13% over the past two years. However, it also found that the wealth of the country’s richest 10% increased four times more than the poorest 10%.

The Independent reports on comments from Boris Johnson recommending that the country should stop building homes on floodplains.

Currently around 9% of new homes are built on floodplains. A recent investigation found that 10,000 are currently in the pipeline.

However, Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to stop building on floodplains. We’ve got to stop building on areas which are vulnerable to flooding.”

Local news

Local news

Picture: Getty

The Guardian has a story on an earthquake that hit Somerset yesterday. It registered 3.2 magnitude and shook houses in the Bridgwater area.

The Telegraph & Argus has news of a new housing development planned in Bradford that could provide hundreds of homes. Gleeson redevelopment has now gained planning permission for the Gratten Site in the city’s Ingleby Road area.

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