Anger As Grenfell Boss Is Invited To Speak At Housing Safety Event

A housing boss in charge of Grenfell Tower before it went up in flames has been chosen to speak at a national housing conference on improving building safety, in a move that has provoked fury among survivors. Sacha Jevans, who was the executive director of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), which managed the building and oversaw the £10m recladding works that left it compromised with fire risks, has been invited to lecture on ways to “improve risk management and building safety post-Grenfell” at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Manchester in June. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/02/anger-grenfell-boss-invited-speak-housing-safety-event

Housing In Crisis But Government Can Do Something

Three-quarters of Britons think that there is a national housing crisis according to research for the CIH’s annual conference.

Undertaken before the Grenfell tragedy, the survey found 82% agree that “everyone should have a right to be able to live in a decent quality home whether or not they own it”. Only 5% disagree.

The survey also found:

·         The public largely reject the notion that there is “isn’t much that British Governments can do to solve country’s housing problems”

·         buying/renting is harder than it was for their parents’ generation

·         there is not enough affordable housing to buy/rent locally,

·         Confidence that the Government has the right policies to deal with the country’s housing problems remains low

Read more on the Ipsos Mori website.

Pickles Unveils Plans to Boost Housing Supply

Eric Pickles has unveiled to the CIH annual conference plans for more investment to boost the supply of new homes.  Pickles said: "The investment we’re announcing will help us drive up the supply of new homes in every corner of the housing market. From new places for rent to people designing to those building their own properties – we will support and deliver the homes this country needs." Read details of the programmes to be funded on the CLG website.

Helping Councils to Build More Homes

Answering the inevitable question at the CIH Conference in Manchester, Kris Hopkins gave the inevitable answer: the Government is not minded to lift council HRA debt caps any time soon. But he threw down a challenge: if councils can spend the extra £300 million borrowing approved in the last Autumn Statement in full and on time, he said, we can go back to the Chancellor with a much stronger case for more. The credibility of local government's call for freedom to borrow more depends on its ability to show that it has the will and the capacity to use the money effectively to deliver the extra new homes that are needed. Read more on the ARCH website.

Tories 'Should Amend Bedroom Tax' Says Founder of Conservative Blog

The Conservative party should not impose the bedroom tax on tenants unless they turn down a suitable alternative offer of accommodation, the founder of Britain’s leading Conservative blog has said. Speaking at the CIH’s annual conference in Manchester, Tim Montgomerie, founder of Conservative Home, said the policy was designed to fulfil a legitimate aim but should be amended.

‘The [removal of] the spare room subsidy wasn’t a mistake in the sense of addressing a real problem,’ he told delegates. ‘But when you have a policy that is both unpopular and doesn’t seem to be bringing in good savings you do have to question it.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Economists Gang Up Against Help to Buy Scheme

The government's flagship Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme has united economists in condemnation, according to one leading expert. Jonathan Portes, director at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and former chief economist at the DWP, told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference that the £12bn scheme would inflate house prices without boosting supply.  "Help to Buy has one real achievement, which is often thought to be impossible," he said. "It has managed to unite every single economist I know. It is a policy which has managed to unite the entire economics profession in condemnation as a policy which is likely to push up demand while achieving virtually nothing on supply. It is a backhanded compliment to the government to say they have managed to achieve this."  Read more on the Guardian website.

Freud on Direct Payment Arrangements

Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform, speaking at the CIH Annual Conference, defended the bedroom tax and revealed further details of the Direct Payment arrangements his department planned to protect landlords' income.  He also gave further details of how the government’s policy of paying benefit to directly tenants, rather than landlords, will work in practice.  He explained that three levels of protection will exist for landlords:

*Decisions about whether tenants should receive direct payments will be made in collaboration with social landlords

*If arrears build up to the equivalent of one month’s rent the decision to make direct payments will be reviewed

*If arrears reach the equivalent of two months rent, the claimant will have housing payments switched to the landlord.

Read more on the Coalition Watch blog.

Councils Urged To Ease Section 106 Criteria

Building homes that are affordable for people on middle incomes should be seen as enough of a benefit to satisfy planning obligations, a consultant has argued. Robert Grundy, director of housing investment at Savills, told the CIH’s annual conference that housing the ‘squeezed middle’ is a huge challenge for the sector.  He said households with an income of between £30,000 and £60,000 per year fall outside both social housing and owner occupation, and are reliant on the private rented sector for a home.  New housing projects which provide much needed homes for these people should satisfy section 106 obligations, he said. Read more on Inside Housing.

Extra Support for One in Four Tenants under Government Benefit Plans

One in four residents will need additional support from their landlord to help pay their rent once housing benefit is paid directly to tenants, according to an organisation involved in the government's demonstration pilot.  Ian Simpson, director of community housing at Bron Afon Community Housing, one of the organisations involved in the pilot, told delegates at the CIH conference that rent collection levels had dropped to 95% at the organisation despite tripling the amount of contact made with tenants.  Simpson said housing associations will need to increase the support offered to tenants, but cautioned that this may not be financially viable. Read more on the Guardian website.