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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

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Top story: Housing associations react to Conservatives’ Right to Buy promise with scepticism

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It was one of the Conservative Party’s key housing giveaways in its manifesto, but what has the social housing sector’s response been to the pledge to create additional Voluntary Right to Buy pilot schemes across the country?

Well, the answer is mixed.

Inside Housing’s story this morning reveals that housing bodies and the housing associations currently involved in the government’s Voluntary Right to Buy pilot in the Midlands have responded to the plan with trepidation.

The National Housing Federation, the organisation that represents housing associations nationally, says that it is important to assess the success of the pilot in the Midlands before spreading it further afield.

While Boris Worrall, chief executive of Rooftop Housing Group, says: “While I absolutely support homeownership, the Right to Buy is not the right way to deliver it.”

Regulator investigates 24,000-home landlord over possible governance issues

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After a flurry of housing associations being put on the regulator’s ‘gradings under review’ list in recent weeks, two more were added yesterday.

Salford-based ForHousing, part of the ForViva group, is the biggest landlord in recent times to be put on the list. The regulator is investigating a matter which could hit the association’s governance rating.

The 24,000-home landlord only officially became an entity in April, after a restructure at its parent company. Cheshire Peaks & Plains Housing Trust joined ForHousing on the list, as the regulator is investigating governance issues at the 5,000-home Cheshire-based landlord, too.

Yesterday also saw the regulator publish judgements on 37 housing associations, including one downgrade.

Lunchtime long read

Lunchtime long read

Photography by Gavriel Hollander

Gresham: how the housing market failed a community

Features editor Gavriel Hollander kicks off Inside Housing’s series of features looking at the most deprived areas in the country to understand why the housing market is failing in these places.

This week, he looks at Gresham in Middlesbrough, which is in the bottom 1% of most deprived areas in the country and where empty homes and boarded-up shops are rife.

Read the full story here

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

“The NHC team is now stepping up engagement with our council, housing association and ALMO members at all levels to understand their priorities, as well as the resources and policy changes we need to make large-scale, carbon-focused renewal of the North’s housing stock a reality.”

Tracy Harrison, chief executive, Northern Housing Consortium (NHC), explains why it is so important that the sector starts taking climate change seriously and why organisations in the North could be a major driver for that.

Read the full comment piece here

In the papers

In the papers

Picture: Getty

The Guardian reveals that Arconic, the manufacturer of the cladding that was on Grenfell Tower, has spent £30m on defending its role in the disaster.

The paper reports on corporate filings by the company in the US, which reveals it has spent up to £50,000 a day on lawyers and other advisors. Arconic said it is continuing to “co-operate with the official UK investigations into the Grenfell Tower tragedy”.

A story in the BBC puts the cost of insurance payouts linked to the major floods that devastated Yorkshire and parts of the Midlands at £110m.

The Association of British Insurers has predicted its members could pay £45m for homes and possessions, £58m for business and £7.5m for vehicles.

Local news

Local news

Picture: Getty

Barnsley Council has come up with suggestions on how to improve the issue of void homes in the area, South Yorkshire paper The Star reports.

Local authority councillors have called on a major upgrade of these homes to ensure they are up to scratch before being let, including compulsory decoration.

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