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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: firefighters and survivors brace for Grenfell Tower Inquiry report
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Ahead of Wednesday’s release of the much-delayed Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, both survivors and firefighters are bracing for the outcome.
Survivors want a clear statement that the refurbishment of the tower breached regulations, as the first step towards criminal prosecutions for the deaths. They are also hoping for findings that the ’stay put’ advice given to the victims was wrong and recommendations about what to do differently in another similar fire.
Meanwhile, firefighters are braced for censure for their response during the fire, with officers of all ranks already warned they will be criticised in the report.
Inside Housing will bring you a preview later today of what to look out for in the report, along with much more coverage throughout the week of its findings. The embargo on its publication will lift at 10am on Wednesday.
Housing Ombudsman proposes faster decisions and tougher powers
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The Housing Ombudsman will seek higher fees from landlords to fund a radical shake-up of its remit, including a new category of ’severe maladministration’.
New leader Richard Blakeway outlined the overhaul in his first business plan for the dispute resolution service.
The additional powers will see it take on a more proactive role in policing complaints made by tenants about their landlords. The move comes amid a climate of calls for increased consumer regulation in the housing sector in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Lunchtime long read
Executive pay-offs, tough TV interviews and regulatory downgrades – it’s been a tough two years for Sunderland’s Gentoo and we’ve sat down with the new chair and chief executive of the 30,000-home landlord to discuss them.
The interview covers where the organisation went wrong and how it plans to move forward. If listening is more your thing, a podcast version is available here.
Quote of the morning
“Just at the point when research by Inside Housing reveals that councils are ready to scale up their housebuilding, the beancounters have struck again”
Our columnist Jules Birch on the decision by the Treasury to raise borrowing rates for councils. Read the full piece here.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
Grenfell survivor and campaigner Eddie Daffarn has given an interview to The Observer about his hopes for the report from the inquiry’s first phase and his experiences since the fire.
Meanwhile, housing secretary Robert Jenrick has told the BBC the issues surrounding the fire continue to “give him sleepless nights”.
And City AM covers calls from the Centre for Policy Studies for an overhaul of stamp duty to boost housebuilding.
Local news
Picture: Getty
The Islington Gazette covers the death of a woman in a fire at an estate in Finsbury Park.
Stourbridge News reports on Dudley Council’s plan to increase social housing rents by 2.7% in April 2020. Landlords have the freedom to increase rents again next year after four years of decreases.
And Blackpool Council is in talks about stepping in to ensure a major regeneration project in the city is completed, after the developer working on it went bust, reports the Blackpool Gazette.