Tenants Excluded From Covid-19 Housing Delivery Taskforce

The London Tenants Federation has expressed disbelief at tenants’ exclusion from the Deputy Mayor for Housing’s new taskforce for the recovery of London’s housing sector after lockdown. Deputy Mayor Tom Copley announced the new taskforce on 28th April, promising it would bring together leaders from ‘across the housing sector’ to speak with ‘one voice’. “How have we been so quick to forget the lessons of Grenfell?” Asked Pat Turnbull, representative for London Tenants Federation (LTF). “With tenants excluded from this task force, we fear things will return to ‘business as usual’ once lockdown eases.” Read more on the London Tenants blog.

https://londontenants.org/blog/tenants-excluded-from-londons-covid-19-housing-delivery-taskforce/

Right To Build Task Force Set Up In UK

A new Right to Build Expert Task Force has been launched in the UK with the aim of creating significantly more affordable homes in the next three years. The Task Force will work with local authorities, community groups and other organisations across the country to deliver large, affordable custom and self-build housing projects. It will be working with at least 80 organisations to help ensure other projects benefit and the lessons learned will be shared through regional events and case studies within the Right to Build Portal. Read more on Property Wire.

Call For National Task Force On Retirement Housing

A national task force should be set up to focus on increasing the supply of retirement housing, a report has recommended. United for All Ages, a social enterprise which aims to bring younger and older people together, has outlined 20 ideas to “promote intergenerational equity”. A number of the ideas relate to housing and care, including a suggestion of a new task force on retirement housing. Other ideas suggested in the report include building 300,000 homes a year, with a mix of affordable rent, Starter Homes and retirement housing. Download a copy of the report from the United for All Ages website.

Task Force Dedicated To Tackling Rogue Landlords Have Never Met

An official task force to tackle rogue landlords set up with great fanfare two years ago has not met once – and there is no plan for it to do so, ministers have admitted. The CLG announced plans for an expanded cross-government team to help councils deal with problem landlords in 2013. It was, they said, designed to build on the work of a previous task force that had been established to tackle so-called “beds in sheds” rentals – where unscrupulous landlords were found to be illegally renting out outbuildings to migrant workers. But Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has admitted that the new task force has not had a single meeting. Mr Lewis also admitted that its predecessor group had only met three times since it was established by the now Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps in 2012. Read more on the Independent website.

Councils Join Forces After Funding Snub

A group of eight east midlands councils has established a task force to ensure the region is not snubbed for a second time in succession by the HCA.  The group, led by umbrella organisation East Midlands Councils, aims to make sure the region’s social landlords cash in on the £300 million of grant funding to build 15,000 affordable homes announced in this month’s stimulus package.  The group will respond to a report from think tank The Smith Institute which criticised the HCA for the distribution of funding under its £1.8 billion affordable homes programme. The report found that the east midlands received funding for just 4,183 homes or 5 per cent of the affordable homes programme in England. This is despite the area housing more than 10 per cent of the country’s population. Read more on Inside Housing.

National Taskforce to End the Problem of 'Beds in Sheds'

A new national taskforce will be set up to tackle the issue of "beds in sheds" by taking action against criminal landlords and removing illegal immigrants. Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Immigration Minister Damian Green will hold the first in a series of cross-Whitehall summits with representatives from the police, the UK Border Agency and local government.  The meetings will find ways to close down thousands of sheds and outbuildings being rented out illegally to migrants, including some with no right to be in the UK. These 'tenants' are being exploited by ruthless landlords who charge them extortionate rents to live in cramped conditions.  These modern day shanty towns, often visible on websites such as Google Earth, can be plagued with rats and cockroaches - and are potential death traps with dodgy wiring and poor sanitation.  Some foreign 'tenants' wish to return home but, after destroying their passports to avoid removal, find it difficult to do so quickly.  Read more on the CLG website.