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

Top story: Christopher Pincher announced as new housing minister

Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher was named as the new housing minister yesterday evening.

He replaces Esther McVey, who was sacked after less than a year in post as part of a government reshuffle.

Mr Pincher moves from his previous role as minister of state for Europe and the Americas, a role he had held since July. He has been an MP since 2010.

According to his voting record, Mr Pincher has voted to reduce housing benefit for social housing tenants, as well as voted against raising welfare benefits in line with prices. He has also previously backed phasing out secure tenancies and charging a market rent to high earners renting a council home.

Via Twitter, he said: “This government will deliver on our commitment to build the housing that people need. Looking forward to getting stuck in alongside Robert Jenrick.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

Call for government to rebalance Affordable Homes Programme as social rent numbers revealed

Sector heavyweights have called for a rebalancing of the affordable housing grant programme after figures revealed that only 4% of homes it delivered since 2016 were for social rent.

The National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing were among the organisations to voice their disappointment.

Just 3,583 of the 90,323 homes funded through the programme since 2016 were for social rent, while 47,047 (52%) were for affordable rent and 39,693 (44%) were for affordable homeownership, mainly shared ownership.

Inside Housing has carried out analysis of the figures to pick out four key learning points.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

Lunchtime long read

Lunchtime long read

Woodnook in Accrington is one of the country’s most deprived areas. As part of our series of reports on places where housing market failures have facilitated economic decline, Gavriel Hollander finds out how it is slowly being turned around.

Read the full feature here

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

“Ministers will be asking if we used our balance sheets effectively enough to enable us to cope with the huge financial impact of fire safety work, if we focused enough on getting basic services right, and if we have championed our residents.”

David Montague, chief executive of L&Q, argues that the sector needs to focus on convincing the government to invest in social housing following yesterday’s rocky reshuffle.

Read the full comment piece here

In the papers

In the papers

Picture: Getty

The MailOnline reports on a story covered in Channel 5’s Britain’s Council House Millionaires programme about a 32-year-old property investor from Manchester who has allegedly made £4.5m by buying up and renting out ex-council homes.

In Northern Ireland, communities minister Deirdre Hargey has announced in a piece for the Belfast Telegraph that £146m will be invested in building 1,850 new homes across the region this year – while admitting that the figure “is not enough”.

And the BBC runs a feature on a housing project in Sweden that forces young and older single renters to spend time with each other in a bid to combat loneliness.

Local news

Local news

Picture: Getty

Essex Live carries a feature on the housing situation in Harlow, where former office blocks being used as temporary accommodation have been identified as a major problem.

Meanwhile, the Blackpool Gazette reports on the council’s decision to write to the government and ask that it makes sprinklers mandatory in all new residential buildings.

In Wales, new figures have shown that only a third of rough sleepers in Gwent are able to find an emergency bed for the night, per WalesOnline.

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