Tenant Charity To Fold Amid Strain On Reserves

Tenant charity TAROE Trust will close down at the end of the month following long-running financial woes. The charity, formed in 2013, said it has experienced “reducing levels of reserves” as it has provided services free of charge to tenants living within the regulated housing sector in a challenging operating environment. TAROE has struggled with financial pressures for a number of years. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/tenant-charity-to-fold-amid-strain-on-reserves-67232?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Gas Services Contractor Embroiled In ALMO Safety Saga Closed Down

The parent company of a contractor involved with a contract at a Kent ALMO that saw hundreds of gas safety checks incomplete has shut down its gas services operations. In a trading update, heating, electrical and building services provider Bilby plc said it closed P&R Installations Company’s gas servicing division in July, with its remaining “ongoing profitable building services contracts” shifted onto Purdy, another subsidiary of Bilby. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/gas-services-contractor-embroiled-in-almo-safety-saga-closed-down-62656?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Disability Charities Urge 'End To Funding Uncertainty' For Supported Housing

The 15 charities wrote to the Government, calling on it to set out what would happen to housing benefit rates for the supported housing sector from 2018 onwards. Earlier this year, the Government announced a one-year exemption for the supported housing sector from a planned 1% reduction in rent. It also delayed for 12 months the introduction of the local housing allowance (LHA) cap - which affects residents living in supported housing. The Government has commissioned a review into the impact of its proposals but the charities warned that 40% of existing supported accommodation would be at risk of closure if the allowance cap went ahead. Fears have been expressed that the changes would reduce the amount of money supported housing providers receive in rent and could make it more difficult for them to deliver specialist services. Read more on the Express & Star website.

Almost A Third of Shelter Offices to Close

Cuts to legal aid are forcing the closure of almost a third of Shelter's housing advice centres and compelling the Red Cross to abandon its assistance for family reunions, the organisations claim.  The decision to close down nine Shelter offices across England this month, with the loss of 80 to 100 jobs, is blamed on the withdrawal of funding for legal advice and representation for routine housing claims from 1 April this year.  The British Red Cross says the cuts will force it to withdraw expert help to those trying to bring their children into the United Kingdom to escape violence or persecution abroad and has condemned the government's economies as an assault on "family life". Citizen Advice Bureaux are also sending out redundancy notices.  Read more on the Guardian website.