'Private Landlords Lowering Rents...That's a Good One'

For a Government department falling over itself to tell us about how transparent it is and how social landlords and councils should be, it seems vastly hypocritical, almost comical – if the issues at hand weren’t people’s homes and livelihoods – that CLG is failing to play a fair game with its housing policies. This year alone, it has been accused of turning down a Freedom of Information request over the impact of Affordable Rent on housing benefit, introduced radical housing reforms during the Localism Bill’s second reading – just two hours before consultation on the measures had ended – and the latest slap in the face – ramming through two-year tenancies, despite admitting in its consultation response that “a large majority of respondents expressed the view that two years would rarely or never be enough for a general needs social tenancy.” With reference to two-year fixed terms, can somebody tell me what the point in consulting on something is if you’re going to ignore the feedback? One campaign group this month accused the Government of concealing the “large number of organisations who have objected in the strongest possible terms to proposed fixed-term tenancies”. Read more of this opinion piece on 24dash.