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A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Not one Starter Home built with £174m spent, says NAO
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The government’s spending watchdog has published a report on Starter Homes, a flagship policy of David Cameron.
Announced in 2014, 200,000 homes for first-time buyers at a 20% discount were promised through the programme, but the National Audit Office has said that not a single home has been built.
Instead, the land bought and prepared for development with £174m of funding has been used for other types of housing.
The government had planned to bring forward the necessary regulations on Starter Homes this year, but there is now no longer a budget for the policy.
Shadow secretary John Healey called it “a total failure”, but the government said it has “a great record” on housebuilding.
ACM found at housing association block missed in post-Grenfell checks
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Grenfell-style cladding has been found on a high-rise block of flats owned by housing association Catalyst.
Crossway Point in Reading was missed in checks for unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) carried out after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, Catalyst has confirmed to Inside Housing.
The 32,000-home landlord has put interim safety measures in place at the block, while Reading Council approved a planning application to remove and replace cladding at Crossway Point on 25 October.
Since Grenfell, 158 blocks owned by social landlords have been found to have ACM cladding, with another 181 in the private sector.
Speak to someone who works in housing management and safety about what's on their mind and they will likely mention Advice Note 14.
This document, published by the government in December last year, was supposed to give building owners guidance over what to do about blocks with combustible cladding systems.
However, it has led to serious confusion, with thousands trapped in potentially unsafe homes which they are unable to sell. Here, Jack Simpson explains the advice note and its impact.
Picture: Jon Heal
Toby Lloyd (pictured), an advisor to Theresa May during her time as prime minister, said:
“RIP Starter Homes. The irony was that there was the kernel of a good idea in there: Community Land Trusts have been doing great things with a similar approach for years”
Mr Lloyd has also written a Twitter thread on the history of Starter Homes:
The sorry, fascinating, saga of Starter Homes finally reaches its inevitable end: a thread.
— Toby Lloyd (@tobylloyd) November 5, 2019
Starter homes pledged by government in 2014, but none built, says watchdog https://t.co/ClIaoyS6ng