‘End Right To Buy’ To Help Build Three Million Social Homes

Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Tom Copley AM says building social housing to the extent pitched by the Shelter/Social Housing Commission report means an end to Right To Buy. “It’s no good building new social housing only to lose precious existing council homes to Right To Buy. “The government must end this policy, which has resulted in the loss of 287,303 social rented homes in London in the past 40 years,” he says. Copley recognises the report recommendations as a “benchmark for the level of ambition”. London alone has seen fewer than 8,000 social homes having been built over the last five years in total. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/end-right-to-buy-to-help-build-three-million-social-homes/

England Needs 3m New Social Homes By 2040, Says Cross-Party Report

England must launch the biggest council and social house building drive in its history to rescue millions of people from a future in dangerous, overcrowded or unsuitable homes, a cross-party commission has told the government. More than 3m new social homes are needed in the next 20 years, more than were built in the two decades after the end of the second world war, according to a year-long housing commission launched in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. The call represents a direct challenge to Tory ministers to dramatically increase social house building from its current level of just over 6,000 homes a year. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/08/england-needs-3m-new-social-homes-by-2040-says-cross-party-report

Social Housing Report Calls For Massive Overhaul Of Tenants’ Rights

Sweeping new powers must be given to social tenants as part of an overhaul needed to ensure a Grenfell-style disaster never happens again according to a powerful cross-party commission. It found that social tenants are being failed by a system that leaves them waiting an average of eight months before their complaints are investigated, even when their safety could be at risk. The calls for a once-in-a-generation rethink of tenants’ rights come from the Social Housing Commission, a year-long investigation brought together by the charity Shelter following the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/05/tenants-rights-massive-overhaul-social-housing-commission-grenfell

Shelter Launches New Social Housing Commission

Shelter is preparing the report with the help from a panel of high-profile figures and the recommendations will be presented to parliament by the end of the year. A survey by the charity found almost half of families in social housing who reported unsafe or poor conditions felt they had been ignored or refused help. Problems included fire safety, gas leaks and electrical hazards as well as mould and pests. It is hoped the work of the commission will give such tenants a “far louder” say in the future of public housing policy, Shelter said. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/shelter-launches-new-social-housing-commission/