Why Housing Associations Are the True Villains of the Property Crisis

Housing associations are a bit like Network Rail. They are what Tony Blair christened his ‘Third Way’ between capitalism and socialism, in the hope they would combine the best elements of both. Instead, they combine some of the worst: public sector lethargy and private sector greed. According to a forthcoming investigation by Channel 4 News, 40 housing association executives are paid more than the Prime Minister for managing a pile of ex-council houses given to them on a plate and which were once managed by a clerk of works and a team of rent-collectors on no more than £30,000 a year. David Cameron’s government is making life a little harder for these associations, and, not surprisingly, they don’t like it. Read more on the Spectator website.

IDS Ties Himself into Universal Knots over Welfare Reform

Will Universal Credit ever become universal and will the lowest paid still face an effective tax rate of a sometimes outrageous 76 per cent? Iain Duncan Smith took a grilling over his plans for welfare reform on the Sunday Politics, but didn’t give a clear answer to either of these questions regarding his reforms. Firstly, on the progress of implementing Universal Credit, he claimed that ‘Universal Credit is already rolling out and the IT is working’, despite just 6,000 people currently on the ‘Pathfinder’ stage. In his initial plans, a million people claiming six existing working-age benefits were due to be on the Pathfinder stage by April 2014. IDS said it was his decision to slow down the roll out. Read more on the Spectator website.

Social Landlords Have Prostituted Themselves over ‘Build to Rent’

Last weekend a group of young professionals moved into a new development in London’s Stratford East. But they had not rented their own home in Stratford. Instead, the group of housing campaigners had entered the development to hold a party in protest at the government’s failure to tackle the rising cost of rent — and role of social landlords in that failure.  The development in question was an apartment block designed for private rent on the open market, but built and managed by Genesis Housing Group, a social housing provider. Rents on a two-bedroom property reportedly start at £1,700 a month. Based on affordability criteria set out by housing charity Shelter (roughly, that housing costs should only consume 35 per cent of take home pay) these properties would only be affordable to families with an income of £76,000. This is not the first housing protest that London has seen, and direct action will rise in line with rents. But it is arguably the most important: it is the first indication that social landlords may be conspiring in their own demise. Read more on the Spectator website.