Kerslake Urges Ministers To Revise View Of Social Housing

The former head of the civil service has called on ministers to change their view of social housing. Lord Kerslake has issued a stinging criticism of the government’s housing policy. The peer said his advice to ministers was that they should hold back on implementing the housing and planning act in full, given the current national situation.“If they’re rational, the government will put some housing bill policies on the backburner.” He added: “Estate renewal has great potential but we can’t just bulldoze in there and think residents will be happy.” The peer defended communities secretary Greg Clark, saying he had been “lumbered with ridiculous policies”. Read more on 24dash.

Labour Calls For Answers Over RTB Fraud Claims

Labour has tabled urgent questions and threatened to call for a National Audit Office investigation over Inside Housing’s research into Right to Buy fraud. John Healey, shadow minister for housing and planning, wrote to communities secretary Greg Clark today with nine urgent questions on the level of Right to Buy fraud. It followed a joint investigation by BBC Radio 4 and Inside Housing which revealed 16% of homes sold by 10 councils were bought by tenants on housing benefit. This does not prove fraud, but is a “red flag”, as it demonstrates someone else is covering the cost of buying the home. Read more on Inside Housing.

New Chair Of HCA Appointed

Sir Edward Lister has been appointed the new chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency, Communities Secretary Greg Clark announced. Sir Edward joins with years of experience of the housing sector. For the last 5 years he has been London’s Deputy Mayor for policy and planning and chief of staff at the Greater London Authority (GLA). His wide-ranging role there included increasing public land disposals and developing new finance models to sustain long-term investment in the capital’s infrastructure.  Prior to joining the GLA, Sir Edward was Leader of Wandsworth council for 19 years. Read more on the HCA website.

Heseltine Launches Panel Of Experts To Kick-Start Estates Regeneration

New tenants rights will be at the heart of the regeneration of some of the country’s most deprived estates, according to Lord Heseltine. A panel  will look at how the layout of estates can be best used to deliver more quality homes that people can buy and rent. The experts will also ensure that there are strong protections in place for existing residents so they will always be given the right to return to their communities. The 17-strong group, co-chaired by Lord Heseltine and Housing Minister Brandon Lewis and reporting to the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary Greg Clark, will develop a national estate regeneration strategy and work with up to 100 estates to tackle deprivation and transform them into vibrant communities. Read more on the CLG website.

Landlord Licensing Scheme Rejected By Secretary Of State

The government has barred a London council from introducing a borough-wide licensing scheme for private landlords. Communities Secretary Greg Clark has turned down Redbridge Council’s application to bring in a borough-wide licensing scheme to tackle poor landlords and anti-social behaviour. The minister declined the application because it did not provide evidence of significant and persistent anti-social behaviour across the borough as a whole, as required under the Housing Act 2008. Redbridge’s scheme, which was consulted on last November, would have required all private landlords in the borough to pay £500 for a five-year license. The council is now considering whether to consult on a smaller scheme. Read more on the East London Guardian website.

Farron Blasts Government Over Starting RTB Before Bill Leaves Commons

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has blasted Greg Clark for starting the Right to Buy extension before the bill has passed through Parliament. The government has said it will launch a pilot of the Right to Buy extension with five HAs - L&Q, Soverign, Riverside, Saffron Housing & Thames Valley. They have also started paying for advertising of the scheme. But the Housing and Planning Bill, which must be made law before the extension can happen, is only at Committee Stage in the House of Commons and still faces the possibility of being voted down in the House of Lords. Read more on 24dash.

Healey Urges Clark To Come Clean Over Council House ‘Giveaway’ Proposal

Shadow housing minister John Healey has urged the communities secretary Greg Clark to clarify his position following media reports that the Government is considering a give-away deal for council tenants. Newspapers have reported that ahead of the Spending Review, ministers are considering the shared ownership proposal as a means to reduce the housing benefit deal. In a letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Healey has asked that Clark make to confirm whether or not he supports the proposal, which the newspapers allege is being pushed by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

170,000 Extra Homes Built Across England

More than 170,000 homes were added to England's housing stock in the last financial year, figures show. The total was 25% up on the previous year, but remains 26% below the peak of 223,530 recorded in 2007-08, just before building slumped as a result of the financial crash. Communities Secretary Greg Clark said the figures showed reforms had worked. Labour said they were evidence of "the Tories' five years of failure on house-building". Download the figures from the CLG website.

Clark Offers Councils £5 Million ‘Beds In Sheds’ Fund To Crack Down On Rogue Landlords

Communities secretary Greg Clark has offered councils a £5 million fund to help them crack down on rogue landlords and tackle so-called ‘beds in sheds’ and other more conventional sub-standard properties. The new funding will help up to 65 of the worst-affected councils – those that have a large proportion of private rented stock and significant problems – to bid for a share of the money

Councils will be able to use the money to increase inspections of property; carry out more raids; take more enforcement action and prosecute more landlords; and demolish more sheds and buildings that are prohibited. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Councils Urge Clark To Resolve Housing Bill Problems

Council leaders have warned the communities secretary that the flagship housing bill could result in developments without schools and hospitals unless changes are made. A cross-party group of council leaders warned Greg Clark that there are “unintended consequences for local authorities and inconsistencies” that will result from the housing and planning bill. The delegation, led by the Local Government Association’s chairman Lord Gary Porter, said they could not fund the creation of the new schools, hospitals and roads needed to meet the government’s demand for new homes. The main concerns for councils are contained in a briefing paper that highlighted the exemptions for developers from housing and infrastructure contributions as a key issue. Read more on 24dash.

Healey Slams Conservative Failings On Housebuilding

Conservative ministers have built a track record of failure when it comes to housebuilding over the last five years, according to Labour’s shadow housing and planning minister John Healey MP.  “The number of homes built in the best year of the last government’s five years was still lower than the worst year of the previous 13 Labour years… 124,980 homes built in the depths of the recession in 2009, under Labour but five years later in 2014, the best year of the last Parliament with a much-trumpeted growing economy, only 117 720,” he said.  Healey was speaking at in the House of Commons during CLG departmental questions session. During the session, he also effectively suggested communities secretary Greg Clark had offered up his department as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ for agreeing with the Treasury to 8% cuts each year to his department’s budget ahead of the spending review later this month. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

RIPsnorter of a Housing Debate

On 2 November, The Housing and Planning Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons. The Right To Buy extension, while in the Bill, is subject to a “voluntary” deal offered by NHF and so avoids parliamentary scrutiny and, significantly, Greg Clark the Minister stated that this applied to ALL housing associations including those who voted against the deal despite assurances from David Orr saying they would not!  Yet far more important was the announcement on Friday that the ONS had reclassified housing associations as public sector bodies. Healey asked Clark twice as to when he knew about the ONS reclassification – and twice Clark refused to answer. The NHF was stitched up like a kipper and David Orr sold them down the river with his assurances on independence, on the discretion he claimed they would have and on those voting No to his deal would not have to sell their properties. Read more on the Speye blog.

Right-To-Buy Defended As Housing Bill Debated

Ministers have defended their plans to extend the right-to-buy to housing association tenants as parties clashed over the government's Housing Bill. Communities Secretary Greg Clark said it would lead to an increase in housing stock and help people "realise the dream" of home ownership. But Labour predicted a "fire sale" of affordable homes. The Housing and Planning Bill is the first to be considered under new "English votes for English laws" rules. Ahead of its second reading, Speaker John Bercow said parts of it "apply exclusively" to England and others to England and Wales only. Read more on the BBC website.

Clark Confirms Housing Associations Will Be Able To Keep Right To Buy ‘Cash’

Greg Clark has confirmed that housing associations will be able to keep money raised through Right to Buy at a debate on regeneration hosted by The Hyde Group. Mr Clark told an audience of senior housing industry leaders that housing associations would keep the receipts in ‘cash’ rather than grant form. He said that the entire UK housing industry had a responsibility to work in partnership to solve the housing crisis and he promised to give housing associations an ‘enriched’ role. He told the audience that housing associations had a ‘standing army’ of developers with the energy and expertise to deliver major building projects, as well as the care, sensitivity and local knowledge to look after existing tenants and keep local communities on side. Read more on the Hyde Group website.

Clark Denies U-Turn on Right To Buy Manifesto Promise

Communities Secretary Greg Clark appeared to have quietly backed down to housing associations on “Right to Buy”. Furious Housing Association fat cats were opposing giving tenants the chance to own their own homes because they argued they were being forced to sell their assets at a discount. Following negotiations and heavy lobbying over the summer, Clark has now said he is considering their new offer to ‘voluntarily’ introduce the extension, ensuring market rate sales with discounts to tenants subsidised by the government. This looks like a complete cave in and effectively a U-turn on a manifesto promise. If landlords only have to sell to tenants on a voluntary basis, tenants won’t have a ‘right’ to buy, landlords will have an “Option to Sell”. Read more on the Guido Fawkes website.

Eight Days For Sector To Decide Its Future Under Orr And Clark’s Right-To-Buy Deal

Housing associations have been given an eight-day ultimatum to decide the future of the sector – and of its tenants –after David Orr and communities secretary Greg Clark revealed they’d brokered a deal on Right-to-Buy . The proposed deal  effectively offers housing associations a way to swallow the bitter pill of RTB on their own terms – and indeed to potentially benefit from it commercially – but where it leaves the sector's poorest tenants over the long term is as yet open to question. This is a quid pro quo deal; in return for accepting RTB, it claims to offer housing associations full compensation for properties sold, claims to guarantees the sector's continued independence, and deregulate its operating framework to give it more flexibility in the types of homes its builds. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Help to Buy Fails To Stimulate New Housebuilding Boom

The number of new housing starts has increased by just 7.7 per cent since George Osborne’s Help to Buy policy was introduced, belying government claims that the home buying subsidies have stimulated a significant increase in residential construction. Since the policy was introduced in April 2013, about 113,000 families have been assisted in buying homes. The Communities Secretary, Greg Clark, also argued that the policy was “getting Britain building”, claiming private house building was up by more than a third since the launch of the scheme. However, the latest official construction figures showed total new housing starts in England were 33,280 in the second quarter of the year, up just 7.7 per cent from the second quarter of 2013 and still well below the average before the financial crisis of 44,000 starts a quarter. Read more on the Independent website.

Starter Home Boost for First-Time Buyers

Communities Secretary Greg Clark has given a boost to the government’s starter homes initiative by launching a £26 million fund for housebuilders to demonstrate a range of high quality homes that will be available for first-time buyers. These will pave the way for the first wave of starter homes and show aspiring young homeowners the different types of properties they can come to expect from the scheme. The fund will support architects, developers, councils, housing associations and small builders to build properties that will increase the quality of design as the government delivers on its pledge to build 200,000 starter homes by 2020. It will be used to acquire brownfield sites to provide land for starter homes. Money from the sales of these sites will go back to the government. Read more on the CLG website.

Young People Face 'Housing Exile', Cabinet Minister to Warn

Many young people are being "exiled" from the neighbourhoods they grew up in because of a lack of affordable housing, a cabinet minister is to warn. Communities Secretary Greg Clark will tell council leaders it is a "defining test" for any government to provide homes to keep the "chain of community". The four candidates vying to lead Labour on a permanent basis - Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and Jeremy Corbyn - will also speak at the annual Local Government Association conference in Harrogate, setting out ideas on housing and decentralisation. Read more on the BBC website.

Right to Buy – Parliamentary Oral Answer

John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab): Does the Secretary of State expect the replacement of housing association homes that are sold off to be the same as, above or below the rate for council homes previously sold off?

Greg Clark: As my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning made clear, the requirement will be one-for-one replacement. With regard to council house sales, replacement of more than one for one has already been achieved for the first year.