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Short on time? Thursday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Housing professionals recognised in New Year’s Honours list
A new year brings in a new list of New Year’s Honours and those working in housing have once again been rewarded.
Carol Matthews, chief executive of Riverside, was given a CBE for services to social housing, while Shelter chief Polly Neate also landed a CBE for her services to homelessness.
Read our round-up today to see which other housing sector figures have rewarded by The Queen.
Click here to read the full story
Chief executive of under-fire ALMO quits
It has been a tumultuous year for East Kent Housing (EKH), the ALMO that manages homes for four Kent councils.
After the discovery in June that the ALMO had failed to keep gas safety checks up to date on hundreds of properties and an independent report concluding that the organisation was “fundamentally broken”, Canterbury, Dover, Thanet and Folkestone & Hythe councils have outlined their intention to bring services back in house.
Before Christmas the councils announced that Deborah Upton, chief executive of EKH, had decided it was the right time to step down from her role.
Lunchtime long read
Picture: Getty
General election 2019: the new MPs who may affect the housing sector
Nearly three weeks since the election, the new batch of MPs are settling into their new roles as representatives of their constituencies. Inside Housing has taken a look at the new cohort and picked out the MPs with a background in or who might be important for housing.
Quote of the day
“There’s no easy answer to the question of how we create housing services fit for the incredibly diverse people who live in our area. What is clear, however, is that we can’t do it without our residents. Their insight and their involvement will help us innovate.”
David Westworth, director of customer services at Phoenix Community Housing, explains why resident scrutiny is so important for high-performing associations
In the papers
Picture: Getty
An investigation by The Mirror has found that 26,000 government-backed loans paid out as part of the Help to Buy programme were handed to households with an income of more than £80,000.
The research also found that around 10,000 of those using the scheme had incomes of more than £100,000 a year.
The finding was met with criticism from John Healey, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, who said that Help to Buy had not helped those most in need of a hand up.
Local news
Picture: Getty
East Devon District Council is set to bring back its housing company after nearly two years of inactivity, Devon Live reports.
Councillors have agreed to make the housing company “fit for purpose” so it can deliver more social housing for residents in the area. East Devon Homes was set up in October 2017 but in the past 24 months there have been no minutes or no recommendations about the company from the councils.
And dozens of council housing blocks in Brighton have been found not to have sprinklers despite advice from fire chiefs recommending otherwise. A Freedom of Information investigation by local paper The Argus found that the 44 blocks with four storeys or more did not have any sprinklers fitted despite the National Fire Chiefs Council calling for all these types of blocks to have the systems in place.
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