Government Confirms Evictions Will Resume Next Month

Lord Greenhalgh, a minister at the MHCLG, confirmed possession proceedings will resume from 24 August in response to a written parliamentary question. He said: “From 24 August 2020, the courts will begin to process possession cases again. This is an important step towards ending the lockdown and will protect landlords’ important right to regain their property. “Work is underway with the judiciary, legal representatives and the advice sector on arrangements, including new rules, to ensure that judges have all the information necessary to make just decisions and that the most vulnerable tenants can get the help they need when possession cases resume.” Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-confirms-evictions-will-resume-next-month-67057?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Dangerous Tower Blocks Should Be Taken Over By Government

MPs have urged the government to take over residential tower blocks if owners fail to remove dangerous cladding. The housing committee says it's "deeply shocking and completely unacceptable" that about 2,000 buildings in England are still potentially at risk nearly three years after the Grenfell fire. The committee wants the work finished by December 2021 but says the budget is only a third of what is needed. The government said it was providing £1.6bn to remove dangerous cladding. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53015868

Government In Talks To Extend Help To Buy

The Government is reportedly considering extending the Help to Buy scheme beyond its current end-date of April 2021. The Government is in talks with The Home Builders Federation, whose members deliver around 80% of new homes built each year, about extending the scheme to help support the industry after Covid-19 lockdown measures are lifted. The shutdown of construction work and sales offices is expected to have a long-term impact on the sector, with Savills estimating that the lockdown will hinder the construction of around 200,000 new homes. Read more on the Financial Reporter website.

https://www.financialreporter.co.uk/mortgages/government-in-talks-to-extend-help-to-buy.html

Government Urged To Step-Up Support For Small Construction Firms

Government must step-up its support for small construction firms amid the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said. Referencing construction PMI data, FMB highlight that construction activity in March fell at the fastest rate since the financial crisis of April 2009. Lower workloads and business closures resulted in a marked reduction in staffing numbers across the construction sector during March, the report reveals. This indicates the steepest pace of job shedding since September 2010. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/coronavirus-government-urged-to-step-up-support-for-small-construction-firms/

Government Commits To £907m New Homes Bonus

Government has committed to scheme to “financially reward” councils to build more homes. Councils will continue to get funding rewards for building new homes. In a bid to “incentivise housing growth” the government has revealed the funding in a package of measures for local authorities. Also set out in the settlement is £1.5bn for adult and children’s social care. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-commits-to-907m-new-homes-bonus-funding/

89% Of British Public Have ‘No Faith’ In Government To Solve Housing Crisis

Just 11% of UK consumers have confidence in the government’s ability to solve the housing crisis, new research from Experience Invest has found. In a survey of over 2,000 UK adults, the property investment firm aimed to uncover public attitudes towards the housing crisis – just days before the General Election on the 12th December. Revealing an overwhelming vote of no-confidence in the government’s ability – the research found that over half of those surveyed think that prolonging Brexit is “counterproductive” in working towards solving the UK’s housing shortage. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/89-of-british-public-have-no-faith-in-government-to-solve-housing-crisis/

Government Loses Supreme Court Fight Over Bedroom Tax

The supreme court has ruled against the UK government’s attempts to force the bedroom tax on 155 partners of people with severe disabilities, in a decision that will hamper ministerial attempts to water down human rights legislation. A unanimous judgment delivered by the court’s president, Lady Hale, ruled that applying a 14% housing benefit reduction to a man, referred only as RR, was a breach of his right to home under the Human Rights Act. RR’s partner is severely disabled so “it is accepted” that the couple need an extra bedroom for her medical equipment, Hale said. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/13/uk-government-loses-supreme-court-fight-over-bedroom-tax

Government Urged To Commit To Ending Homelessness

A joint-campaign is calling on all political parties to publish a plan in their first year of government to end all forms of homelessness. The #EndHomelessness campaign, supported by Crisis, Shelter, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Homeless Link, and Depaul UK, outlines a series of commitments that, put in place, can set to end rough sleeping in the UK. These include:

·         Improving access to truly affordable housing, by building at least 90,000 social homes a year over the next five years, and improving security for tenants in the private rented sector

·         Strengthening support through the welfare system, through housing benefit that covers the cost of rent and fixing Universal Credit so that it doesn’t push people into homelessness

Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-urged-to-commit-to-ending-homelessness/

None Of Pledged Starter Homes Built, Says Watchdog

A government plan to create 200,000 new homes for first-time buyers has resulted in no homes being built, the National Audit Office has found. Announced in 2014, "starter homes" were meant to be aimed at those under the age of 40 and sold at a 20% discount. But legislation to take the project forward was never passed. MHCLG spent some £174m on acquiring and preparing sites.Labour called the policy a total failure, but the government said it had a "great track record" for house building. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50296672

Government Fails To Inform Tenants Of Their Rights And Responsibilities

The Government urgently needs to provide tenants with better information on their rights and responsibilities if it is to avoid a breakdown of trust between renters and their landlords, the National Landlords Association warns. New research, commissioned by the NLA, found that over three quarters (79%) of tenants need better information about what they should expect from their landlords or agents. Worryingly, the NLA also found that more than two thirds (67%) of tenants were not aware of the Government’s How To Rent guide that is designed to help them understand their rights and responsibilities. Read more on the NLA website.

https://landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/the-government-fails-adequately-inform-tenants-their-rights-and

70% Of Public Think Government ‘Isn’t Doing Enough’ To Solve Housing Crisis

The National Centre for Social Research has revealed that more than 70% of the public believe that the government isn’t doing enough to solve the housing crisis. The British Social Attitudes survey, conducted on behalf of the National Housing Federation, reveals that around three-quarters (73.3%) recognise that there isn’t enough affordable housing in their area and the country more widely. This is said to be creating a “cynical” mindset for the public, with a further two-thirds (66.1%) stating that they believe it will be harder for young people to find somewhere affordable to live in five years. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/70-of-public-think-government-isnt-doing-enough-to-solve-housing-crisis/

Government U-Turn On Tenant Deposit Cap A Loss Of Faith Say Landlords

Reducing the proposed cap on security deposits would make securing a tenancy harder for many. Responding to reports that the Government is to do a U-turn on its decision to cap tenancy deposits in rented housing at six weeks and reduce this to five, a spokesman for the Residential Landlords Association said: “If this is true, landlords will feel badly let down by a Government which says it wants to support good landlords. The Government had accepted that a cap of six weeks was the minimum many landlords require. This is needed to address the problem of tenants who fail to pay the last month's rent and leave a property damaged.” Read more on the RLA website.

https://landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/government-u-turn-on-tenant-deposit-cap-loss-faith-say-landlords

Government ‘Heaping Pressure’ On Councils Over Housing Targets

With the HRA borrowing cap lifted, government has to stop “heaping pressure” on councils to deliver unrealistic housing targets that erode Green Belt land, the CPRE has said. CPRE planning campaigner Rebecca Pullinger says analysis of new MHCLG stats shows that for too long housebuilders have been able to use land as a tool to “manipulate and monopolise the market only to serve their own interests”. “Instead, developers should be held more accountable to deliver the homes that they have promised,” Pullinger says. The MHCLG says its stats show the Green Belt is 24,500 hectares bigger than it was in 1997 – taking into account land reclassified as a national park. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-heaping-pressure-on-councils-over-housing-targets/

Control Of Grenfell Tower Site To Be Handed Over To Government, Not Council

Grenfell survivors have expressed their relief that responsibility for the gutted tower block will be handed over to the government, rather than the local council, after a police probe is completed. The MHCLG said that, although Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC) is the legal owner of the site, it will “take no role in the management or decision making” going forward. The announcement comes just days after concerns were raised that the site would fall under the remit of the local authority once the police investigation was completed. Read more on the Huffpost website.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/grenfell-tower-site-government-rbkc_uk_5b61c300e4b0fd5c73d53969

Social Housing Regulator ‘Constrained’ By Government Before Grenfell

The social housing regulator was “constrained” in its ability to investigate residents’ fire safety concerns by the direction of travel imposed by government, its former chair has said. Julian Ashby, who stepped down as chair of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) this year, said “with hindsight” the regulator could have been “more aggressive” over health and safety. But he said its actions were “constrained” by legislation which limited its power to intervene in consumer affairs, after the government scrapped its predecessor, the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), amid the ‘bonfire of the quangos’ in 2010. The HCA was only allowed to intervene in ‘consumer’ or tenant affairs when it was satisfied that the concerns passed the ‘serious detriment test’ of potential harm to residents. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Z4fwfZltkREJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/social-housing-regulator-constrained-by-government-before-grenfell-says-former-chair-56768+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Conservatives 'Planning Budget U-Turn' Over Rollout Of Universal Credit Regime

Ministers are reportedly preparing for a major U-turn on the rollout of Universal Credit in the Budget by reducing the controversial six-week wait to four for the first payment to claimants. It comes after weeks of sustained pressure on Downing Street from Conservative backbenchers, the Labour party and charities warning the Government’s flagship welfare programme – due to be accelerated this month – is pushing recipients into poverty, arrears and a reliance on food banks. The main anxiety among MPs and charities focuses on the six-week wait claimants are forced to endure before receiving their first payment under the new regime after transferring from the legacy benefits system. Read more on the Independent website.

Government Drops LHA Cap Plans In Huge Climbdown

The government has dropped plans to cap housing benefit in the social housing sector at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in a huge climbdown following widespread criticism. The plans to introduce the LHA cap for both general needs social housing and supported housing will be dropped. The future funding model for supported housing will be revealed next Tuesday (31 October). The sector had been anxiously awaiting an update from government on their future plans for supported housing after a green paper was promised in the spring but had yet to materialise. The prime minister said: “We will not apply the Local Housing Allowance cap to supported housing – indeed we will not be implementing it in the wider social housing sector, and the full details will be made available when we publish our response to the consultation” Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Appeals Against High Court Benefit Cap Ruling

The Government has launched an appeal against a ruling that its controversial benefits cap unlawfully discriminates against lone parents with children under two. The cap, which came into force last year, limits the total amount of benefits a household can receive to £23,000 a year in London and £20,000 elsewhere. But in June, a High Court Judge said the benefit cap was disproportionately affecting lone parents, and causing “real misery to no good purpose". Read more on the Independent website.

Government Recommit To Help To Buy

The government has come out in support of the Help to Buy scheme, with reports circling they could be looking to close it down. The statement from the CLG says: “We remain committed to the Help to Buy equity loan scheme to 2021, ensuring it continues to support homebuyers and stimulate housing supply. The government also recognise the need to create certainty for prospective home owners and developers beyond 2021, so will work with the sector to consider the future of the scheme.” Read more on 24housing.

Government Orders Landlords To Carry Out Tower Block Cladding Tests

The government has told social landlords to carry out tests of cladding on their tower blocks. The Grenfell Tower fire last week tore up the outside of the building, leading to widespread speculation that the cladding on the building might have hastened the spread of the fire. In a letter from Melanie Dawes, permanent secretary at the CLG, she wrote there is “significant anxiety” from tenants about whether the tower blocks they live in are safe. Read more on Inside Housing.