Short on time? Wednesday’s housing news in five minutes

“Few, if any, politicians will not be moved by the plight of a family facing homelessness or living in temporary or emergency accommodation. What to do about the situation is more divisive.”

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, says he has seen the impacts of a lack of legal aid for the housing crisis in real life.

Read the full comment piece here

Picture: Getty

Thousands of vulnerable people on low incomes – particularly those with mental illness – are at risk of destitution because they do not have the skills or support to apply for and maintain a Universal Credit benefit claim, the Salvation Army has told The Guardian.

The BBC is also running a series on Universal Credit, which looks at people’s experiences of moving onto the new benefits system and how it affects their lives.

A long-running battle over care workers’ pay will reach the Supreme Court today. The BBC has the details of the case.

Elsewhere, the Metro has a comment from Paul Hickman, professor of housing and social policy at Sheffield Hallam University, and Jenny Preece, research associate at University of Sheffield, suggesting ways to help social housing tenants get their voices heard.

Picture: Getty

Town hall bosses in Hackney have been urged not to include gas-fired boilers in future housing schemes, the Hackney Citizen reports.

Meanwhile, Birmingham Live has details of Dudley Council’s plans to invest more than a quarter of a billion pounds in council housing over the next four years.

In Scotland, plans have been lodged for a £100m mixed-use development on the site of a former IBM facility at Spango Valley, Greenock. Planning permission is being sought for up to 450 new homes, as well as retail, leisure and community facilities, the BBC reports.

Picture: Incommunities

A retired council architect made a special donation to a Bingley retirement scheme as it prepared for a new phase of modernisation work.

Malcolm Bayliss (left) was getting ready to move house when he came across a large model of the proposed development that he had worked on back in the 1970s which would become Maple Court.

A few days later, the wooden model, labelled ‘Ash Terrace aged persons flatlets’, was in the scheme’s communal lounge for everyone to see.

The development, which was designed by Mr Bayliss and his team, formed part of a major council housing programme that started in the mid 1970s.

The scheme comprised 58 flats with communal facilities and was set within attractive grounds. The development was completed in 1981 and named Maple Court to complement the tree names of other local roads.

In the coming weeks, Incommunities is starting work on refurbishing the communal lounge at the development and fitting a new kitchen. Work is also continuing to turn studio flats into one bedroom apartments complete with modern kitchen and bathrooms.

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