Downing Street Scrambles To Spin PM’s Grenfell Panel Appointment

The credibility of the Grenfell Inquiry has taken a hit with a key member of its panel exposed as having links to the company that made the tower’s cladding. Downing Street is scrambling to spin the Cabinet Office backed Prime Ministerial appointment of Benita Mehra to the panel after it emerged that Mehra was previously president of a charity that received a £71,000 donation from the philanthropic arm of Arconic – the US firm that made the panels found to be the main cause of fire spread. Already, Boris Johnson has had to concede to an investigation of the appointment. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/downing-street-scrambles-to-spin-pms-grenfell-panel-appointment/

PM Urged To End ‘Dangerous’ Office-To-Residential Conversions

An open letter has today been sent to Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlining calls to end the creation of homes through office-to-residential conversions. In 2013, the introduction of Permitted Development Rights (PDR) has allowed office buildings to be converted to housing without requiring “normal” planning permission. According to the letter, authored by architects Levitt Bernstein, almost 42,000 “tiny and inaccessible” homes have been created since the policy’s introduction. A recent report also highlights that some windowless rooms aren’t just used for sleeping, but are also used as spaces to cook, eat and socialise. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/pm-urged-to-end-dangerous-office-to-residential-conversions/

Affordable Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much in grant funding will be allocated to the building of affordable housing between 2016 and 2021.

James Brokenshire: The Affordable Homes Programme is £9.1 billion, with £700 million currently allocated to 2021/22. The £700 million in 2021/22 includes the £300 million allocated to the Greater London Authority at Spring Statement 2018 and an additional £400 million to cover the money allocated to fund cladding remediation, which the Prime Minister announced on 16 May. The extension of the programme responds to calls from the sector for longer term certainty on grant funding.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-05-23/147332

High Court Agrees To Review Of Right To Rent Policy

The High Court has given permission for a legal review to be launched into the Government’s Right to Rent policy. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) has been granted permission by the High Court to proceed with their legal challenge against the policy, which the RLA supports. Right to Rent is a flagship part of the ‘hostile environment’ strategy for illegal immigrants introduced by the Prime Minister whilst she was at the Home Office. Read more on the RLA website.

https://news.rla.org.uk/right-to-rent-judicial-review-bid-heard-in-high-court/

Housebuilders Claim Industry Is 'Doing Duty' For Britain

Housebuilders are pressing the Government to give them more credit for meeting new home targets to counter fierce criticism that they are failing to deliver. The Housebuilders Federation says its members are well on the way to provide the million homes the Government has challenged the industry to build between 2015 and 2020 but complains ministers have been doing more to provide ammunition for critics. The Prime Minister has made recovery in house building a key policy objective and is pressing the industry to make the most of the incentives provided to ease a chronic shortage. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/03/25/housebuilders/

£40 Million Homelessness Prevention Programme Announced

A new £40 million programme to provide an innovative approach to tackling homelessness, with prevention at its heart, has been announced. The Prime Minister has announced a fresh government approach to tackling homelessness by focusing on the underlying issues which can lead to somebody losing their home. This includes a new £10 million rough sleeping prevention fund to help individuals who might be struggling to get by from ending up on the street. It will also provide rapid and targeted interventions for new rough sleepers, such as helping them to access employment and education opportunities. Read more on the GovUK website.

Cameron's 'Ideas' For Council Estates Are As Ill-Formed As They Are Patronising

Once a decade, whichever party is in power, its leader notices that life on council estates isn’t quite the same as in – say – Chipping Norton. Then they make some noise about sprucing them up a bit. Perhaps the Prime Minister or an adviser saw an estate looking shabby from the train into Paddington station, or maybe in the run-up to last year’s general election they visited one briefly to canvass votes. The PM is to deliver just such a speech having noted that some of the 2011 rioters, apparently lived on estates and promising a paltry £140 million for a spruce up. Given this is to be split across 100 estates, that should allow for a few repainted front doors and giant wheelie bins then. The idea that some estates can be demolished and others rebuilt out of such a miserly sum is simply risible. Read more on the Independent website.

Road Testing Right To Buy - What Happens Next

Ever since it was announced in April 2015, extending Right to Buy to housing association tenants has generated lots of interest. There were lots of angles to explore, lots of different views to debate and discuss and lots of speculation about the impact. When the Prime Minister accepted the housing association offer to voluntarily sell homes to tenants with a discount paid for by the Government, this raised a whole new set of questions. When would housing associations start selling homes? Who would be eligible to buy their home? How would the discounts be paid? Read more on the CIH website.

Hopkins 'Grateful To Prime Minister' After Losing Housing Job

Kris Hopkins says he is "honoured that the prime minister has shown continued faith in him" after being removed as housing minister less than a year into the role. Hopkins was moved sideways within CLG from housing to local government in David Cameron's reshuffle to make way for newly promoted Brandon Lewis, in what appears to be a more senior housing brief that also includes planning. In his role as Minister for Local Government, the former Bradford Council leader will also have responsibility for adult social care, community pubs, and planning policy relating to wind farms and solar energy. Read more on 24dash.

Removing Housing Benefit for U-25s Could Push More into Homelessness

The Prime Minister has reconfirmed a Conservative Party proposal to remove housing benefit to those aged 25 years or less if they win the next election.  Our 'Young and Homeless' 2012 survey of 117 homeless charities and 101 local authority housing services found that:

·         50% of providers say more young people are seeking support

·         65% of young people supported by providers are homeless due to relationship breakdown with family, friends or partners

·         54% of providers report closures of youth services in their area due to funding cuts

·         More than half of providers are turning young people away because they are full

Read more on the Homeless Link website.

PM Warned That 'Local Homes for Local People' Could Backfire

The Prime Minister wants to make it far harder for migrants to get social housing and is calling on councils to prioritise "local homes for local people". One landlords' group has warned this could lead to migrants being exploited by 'criminal' landlords. In reaction to the Prime Minister's comments, the body representing private sector landlords has warned that restricting access to social housing by migrants will force many into the hands of 'criminal' landlords.  Alan Ward, Chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, warned: "These measures will put extra pressure on the private rented sector and provide opportunities for low-grade landlords and criminal elements to exploit immigrants.’ Read more on 24dash.

Further Details on Right to Buy Published

The CLG has provided further details following the Prime Minister's announcement on Right to Buy. 'Right to Buy - Questions and Answers' covers the key points on plans to raise Right to Buy discounts to a level intended to make the scheme attractive again, and to rejuvenate the housing stock. Further details will be published shortly as part of the Government's Housing Strategy. Download a copy of the document from the CLG website.

Housing Investment - Commons Oral Answer - Prime Minister

Richard Burden MP (Labour, Birmingham Northfield): One of the projects that stands to be affected by the Government's decision to put on hold £600 million of housing investment is the housing element of the redevelopment of the Longbridge site in my constituency? Will the Prime Minister tell me what priority he will attach to the regenerative effects of such housing projects?
The Prime Minister: Everyone wants regeneration to continue in Birmingham... We want that regeneration to continue. The problem with the previous Government's housing commitments, particularly on social housing, is that they simply were not funded. One of the things that we and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have been able to do, in making £6 billion of cuts this year, is plough back some of that money into social housing schemes, which the last Government promised but never funded.