Denton Confirmed As New Homes England Chief Executive

Housing association boss and former banker to lead ‘reset’ of funding agency. Former banker and housing association chief executive Peter Denton has now been officially confirmed as the new chief executive of Homes England. Peter Denton, chief executive of Hyde Group, will take over at the helm of the agency later this year, with responsibility for administering a new £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme and a stake of around £14bn in homes acquired through the Help to Buy. Denton will be tasked with leading what housing secretary Robert Jenrick has this week called an “important reset” of the agency’s function, focusing more on regeneration. Read more on the Homes England website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-phase-for-agency-as-peter-denton-joins-homes-england

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.

Social Landlord Regrets Stating 'No DSS' On Adverts

A large London housing association has admitted using “clumsy” language after stating “no DSS” in an advertisement for a flat. The Hyde Group attracted criticism on social media after an advert for a two-bedroom, second-floor apartment said “no DSS”. The east London property, which was advertised by Hyde New Homes, was built as key worker housing in 2009 and is let at 80% market rent. The advert was described as “vile and discriminatory” on Twitter. David Gannicott, director of business development at Hyde, said: “To be perfectly honest, it should have been better thought through. The wording is a bit clumsy. What we should have said was [applicants] have to be working households.” Read more on Inside Housing.

Research Heralds New Era in Resident Empowerment

Rewarding tenants who participate in resident involvement schemes results in a greater level of engagement, according to research. A study commissioned by the Hyde Group and Housing Quality Network also found large landlords are increasingly seeing resident involvement as necessary to justify public expenditure on their programmes. The study was led by Professor Hal Pawson of Heriot Watt University and looked at resident involvement in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. Download a copy of the report from the Hyde Group website.