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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: Shared ownership Right to Buy plan forces landlords to rethink strategic partnership bids
Housing associations are being forced to reconsider the volume and tenure of homes in their strategic partnership bids following the government’s shared ownership Right to Buy announcement in September, Inside Housing’s top story reveals today.
Bids for funding up until 2029 were submitted in April, with the expectation that winning bids would be announced this autumn.
However, Inside Housing has learned that the announcement will now be delayed until next year, partly due to the election and partly due to Homes England taking the time to consider the impact of the new policy.
Sources from those bidding for the funding have raised concerns about how the shared ownership Right to Buy will impact their ability to borrow and said this may affect their appetite for the amount of new homes they want to build.
Scotland’s highest court rules Glasgow asylum seeker evictions are lawful
Around 150 asylum seekers in Glasgow face being evicted from their home after the Court of Sessions upheld that Serco was acting lawfully when it sought to evict them without a court order last year.
Serco attracted heavy criticism when it pursued a policy of lock-change evictions against asylum seekers whose applications had been rejected. However, Serco argued it was being left to pay the bill as the Home Office had stopped paying rent for the individuals in question.
The contractor said it will now ensure an “orderly sensitive application of the law” and will not seek to remove more than 20 people in any one week from the properties.
Lunchtime long read
Have Facebook groups replaced tenants’ associations and become the primary way for residents to voice their frustrations?
In an in-depth feature, Inside Housing has spoken to parties on both sides of the divide to find out whether this new way of ramping up pressure on landlords means the relationship has to be adversarial.
Quote of the day
“The knock-on effect of the PWLB rate rise is an increase in interest costs of around £12m – which we have estimated is the equivalent of around 100 properties that we will potentially not be able to build.”
Simone Hines (pictured), executive director of resources at Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, writes in Inside Housing about what impact the increase in Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) borrowing rates is having on councils’ ability to build.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
The UK government has lost a Supreme Court battle against the bedroom tax, meaning full housing benefit will be restored to at least 155 partners of people with severe disabilities, The Guardian reports.
Manchester Council has overhauled its social housing allocations policy, giving increased priority to homeless people and those who live in overcrowded housing, according to the BBC.
City Metric has published an opinion piece stating that the upcoming election should be used to argue that current and prospective tenants are involved in the planning and decision-making process from the start.
Local news
Picture: Getty
Norwich Council, whose Goldsmith Street scheme recently won the Stirling Prize, has approved a new housing strategy which could see 500 new council homes built over the next six years, the Eastern Daily Press reports.
According to the MKCitizen, Milton Keynes Council is struggling to spend the £165m which has been set aside to bring roughly 400 of its homes up to the Decent Homes Standard.
Finally, Caerphilly Council is proposing a 7% rise in council tax due to budget cuts, in part caused by the election, the BBC reports.
