Tory MP Brands Building Safety Bill A ‘Sticking Plaster’ That Won’t Help Leaseholders

 A backbench Conservative MP who has led attempts to prevent leaseholders from being hit by fire safety costs has slammed the government’s Building Safety Bill. Stephen McPartland, MP for Stevenage, strongly criticised the government’s proposals which include giving homeowners a retrospective right to sue for defective building work up to 15 years after the completion date. McPartland, said: “We know leaseholders don’t have the money to fund legal action and this is another sticking plaster instead of a solution.” McPartland said that instead the government must “provide a real safety net and fund making our buildings safe.” He said those responsible should be forced to pay through levies. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/tory-mp-brands-building-safety-bill-a-sticking-plaster-that-wont-help-leaseholders/5112618.article

Councils Hit Out At Government’s ‘Unrealistic’ New Planning Formula

Councils across England have hit out at the government’s new planning algorithm after analysis found that cities will need to increase development collectively by more than 70% if they are to meet the revised housing need numbers. Local authorities most affected by the changes to the planning formula have said that the government’s plans are “unrealistic” and “flawed”, with some councils being expected to increase housebuilding within their boundaries by more than 200%. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/councils-hit-out-at-governments-unrealistic-new-planning-formula-69616#:~:text=Councils%20hit%20out%20at%20government's%20'unrealistic'%20new%20planning%20formula,-News24.02.21&text=Councils%20across%20England%20have%20hit,the%20revised%20housing%20need%20numbers 

Tory MP Breaks Cover To Criticise Planning Reforms

Tory MP Neil O’Brien has become one of the first to break ranks with the government’s planning reforms by criticising the proposed formula for determining housing need in local authorities. The Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston said that the “strange” proposal risked seeing the housing requirement for some cities “stagnate” while the volume of new homes in shires and suburbs rose steeply. His comments refer to the new proposed “standard method” for determining local housing need, laid out by the government at the start of this month alongside its wider reforms to the system, which will limit democratic involvement in individual planning application decisions. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/tory-mp-breaks-cover-to-criticise-planning-reforms/5107634.article 

Minister Hits Out At UK Property Firms Over £200m Cladding Bailout

The behaviour of some of Britain’s biggest property owners has been criticised as morally indefensible by the government after ministers were forced to launch a £200m taxpayer bailout to fix combustible Grenfell-style cladding on private residential towers. James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced he was diverting public money to make safe about 20,000 high-rise homes, in an embarrassing defeat for the government after a months-long standoff with property firms where many refused to pay. Brokenshire’s plan immediately ran into internal opposition when Melanie Dawes, his most senior civil servant, said it was bad value for money for the taxpayer and regressively diverted money to richer parts of the population Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/09/minister-hits-out-uk-property-owners-cladding-bailout-grenfell

‘Unforgivable Cowardice’: Company ‘Gagged’ From Criticizing May In Wake Of Grenfell Fire

The company hired to test flammable cladding on government-built buildings have been ‘gagged’ from criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May. Engineering firm WSP signed a government contract worth more than £100,000 to carry out testing of cladding on buildings, 12 days after the Grenfell Tower fire. A prerequisite of the deal was WSP having to sign a gagging clause preventing the company from being able to create “adverse publicity” for or “embarrass” May and her Cabinet Office. The deal was agreed at a time when the prime minister was receiving criticism for her handling of the disaster, much of which was related to her failure to meet residents and survivors of Grenfell Tower in the immediate aftermath. Read more on the RT website.

https://www.rt.com/uk/443326-grenfell-cladding-gagging-may/

Chair Of English Regulator Hits Out At League Table Critics

The chair of the English social housing regulator has hit back at sector figures who have criticised the government’s plan for new league tables, saying they have no “compelling case for what to do instead”. Simon Dow, interim chair of the Regulator of Social Housing, warned that critics have “misread the public and political mood” if they think “increased public scrutiny” can be avoided. The proposal for league tables was pitched in the Social Housing Green Paper, published last month, and would involve social landlords being publicly ranked on key metrics for customer services. Sector leaders warned the idea could prove to be a “blunt instrument” with “counter-productive” results following the announcement. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mvkh4voNCzwJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/chair-of-english-regulator-hits-out-at-league-table-critics-57751+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Landlords Slam ‘Shambolic’ Universal Credit Scheme

Universal Credit payments could have a disastrous impact on the Private Rented Sector, with more and more landlords saying they will refuse to rent to tenants on benefits. Research carried out by the Residential Landlords Association showed that landlords are frustrated with the new system, which sees benefits paid directly to claimants, who are then responsible for paying their own bills, including rent. Landlords have criticised the way the DWP has handled their enquiries and say that the process for requesting direct payments from the Government is too long. The transfer from Local Housing Allowance to Universal Credit has also been slammed, with complaints about missing and delayed payments leaving tenants in arrears. In fact the problems are so extreme many landlords say they will no longer rent to any benefit claimants. Read more on the RLA website.

Cameron Has 'Earned £500,000 Renting Out His Home Since Becoming PM'

David Cameron has come under fire for saying he worries about his children being able to afford a home after it was revealed he is believed to have earned £500,000 in rent during his time as Prime Minister. His comments over his children's future have now been slammed by opposition politicians. Shadow housing minister John Healey said: 'If he thinks his kids have a problem buying a home, he should take a moment to think about what life is like for everyone else. Cameron and Osborne have shown no understanding of the housing pressures facing millions.' It comes as a Conservative housing bill is currently being debated in Parliament that would end life tenancies for council house residents and sell off a large swathe of social housing. Developers would then be allowed to build flats worth up to £450,000 instead of new social housing. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

Care Leavers' Housing Poor Say MPs

Too many care leavers live in unsuitable accommodation, MPs have warned. A report on the outcomes of young people leaving the care system by the Commons Public Accounts Committee was heavily critical of services and support. They also concluded the quality and cost of care was too variable and they could find no clear relationship between the two. Poor housing was one of the committee’s biggest concerns and the MPs urged the Department for Education to work more closely with local government, as well as those running children’s care homes. A key problem is finding suitable residential properties that meet need, regulations and do not face opposition from local residents. Read more on the Parliament website.

Ex-Whitehall Chief Criticises Right-To-Buy Housing Policy

The former head of the civil service will denounce the government’s flagship plan to extend the “right to buy” to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Lord Kerslake, who was the most senior mandarin at the CLG until February will break cover in his maiden speech in the House of Lords on Tuesday, delivering a serious blow to a centrepiece of the prime minister’s legislative programme.

Kerslake, who was working on housing policy until weeks before the election, told the Observer: “I will raise my serious concerns about the policy in its current form. I think it’s wrong in principle and wrong in practice, and it won’t help tackle the urgent need to build more housing and more affordable housing in this country, particularly in London.” Read more on the Observer website.

Right to Buy Is ‘Disaster for London’

A member of the London Assembly has slammed the controversial right to buy policy as a “disaster for London” on the eve of a BBC investigation into fraud surrounding the scheme. Green Party member Darren Johnson said: “Right to buy is a disaster for London. A lot of council homes sold today will be in the hands of private landlords tomorrow. Across London, almost five thousand council homes have been lost in the past two years, with fewer than one in six replacement homes started using the receipts.” An Audit Commission report revealed there has been a 400% increase in right to buy fraud in the capital. Read more on 24dash.

DWP 'Fails To Stop Billions Being Lost Through Housing Benefit'

A group of MPs has launched a scathing attack on the DWP branding its spend on preventing housing benefit fraud and error ‘completely nonsensical’. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered the department to report back within six months ‘with a clear plan to tackle the major sources of loss on housing benefit’. Margaret Hodge, chair of the PAC, said: ‘Billions of pounds have been lost to the taxpayer as a result of the DWP’s failure to tackle housing benefit fraud and error effectively.” Download the report from the Parliament website.

Tory Minister Appears To Slam Cameron's New Housing Scheme

A Tory minister appears to have slammed Prime Minister David Cameron's new starter home plan. Climate change minister Amber Rudd ‘favourited’ a tweet at the weekend that was highly critical of the PM's proposal to exempt the homes in his new scheme from zero carbon regulations.  John Alker tweeted: "Appalling that Tories planning to exempt first time buyer homes from zero carbon regs. Price of building to ZC regs has plummeted." Rudd favourited the tweet but a government source has since claimed that the MP may have clicked the favourite button accidentally or "perhaps there was a technical glitch". However, though Twitter users have the option to retract their 'favourites', Rudd hasn't 'unfavourited' the message. Read more on 24dash.

Lib Dems Expand Criticisms of Coalition Welfare Policies

The Liberal Democrats are to broaden their criticisms of the coalition's welfare policies by admitting that benefit sanctions are hitting those most in need of support. The attack on benefit sanctions is included in a motion due to be debated at the party's autumn conference, and will raise questions about the extent to which they have been calling for changes internally at the DWP. It also calls for a review of universal credit implementation to address poor administration, information management and data quality issues as well as cliff edges that may disincentivise increased working hours, or leave insufficient childcare or other basic needs support. Read more on the Observer website.

TPAS Voices Consumer Concerns

A tenant advisory body has said it remains ‘deeply concerned’ about the HCA’s approach to consumer regulation, claiming it is not doing enough. The HCA last month published a review of consumer regulation, including examples of real incidents that have failed to meet its statutory ‘serious detriment’ threshold for intervention on tenant complaints. But a Tenant Participation Advisory Service spokesperson said the HCA can do more to promote the status of consumer standards, while ‘remaining in its current remit’. Read more on the Inside Housing website.

Universal Credit: Housing Chief Slams Direct Payments as 'Daft'

A housing association's chief executive has labelled the Government's plans for direct payments to tenants under Universal Credit as "daft". Matt Cooney, CEO of asra Housing Group, has written to MPs to urge them to pressure the Government into rethinking its plans, claiming that direct payments will be damaging to both social landlords and tenants.  Mr Cooney said: “There is a lot of discussion in the media about the forthcoming bedroom tax which will see asra’s customers lose about £1.2m collectively in housing benefit. Direct payment of benefits is an ideologically driven change to benefits and it will be extremely damaging to housing associations.”   Read more on the asra website.

Peers Refuse to Sanction Criticism of Universal Credit

Peers have rejected a motion criticising universal credit as the Lords voted through regulations to introduce the flagship welfare reform policy.  A ‘motion of regret’ on the policy was defeated by 239 votes to 169 as the House of Lords approved the regulations last week. Labour’s Baroness Sherlock proposed the motion of regret saying that the universal credit regulations would ‘not achieve their aim of making work pay for all’. Read more on Inside Housing.