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Big fall in number of vulnerable people sleeping rough is linked to Government initiative

Friday, 25th October 2019

The Government is claiming it’s Rough Sleeping Initiative is having a significant impact on reducing the numbers of vulnerable people sleeping rough on the country’s streets. New analysis (which was independently peer reviewed by Bryson Purdon Social Research, an independent... View Article

RTB sales fall to their lowest level in six years

Friday, 25th October 2019

The number of council homes sold to tenants under the statutory Right to Buy scheme has fallen to its lowest level for six years according to Government statistics. Councils sold 2,313 homes under the scheme in the three months from... View Article

Housing body says poor people are being denied access to social homes

Friday, 25th October 2019

Rules and processes designed to decide who gets access to social housing could be failing people in the greatest need, according to new research from the Chartered Institute of Housing. In ‘Rethinking Allocations’, CIH policy and practice officer Faye Greaves... View Article

Waiting for Universal Credit fuels poverty and food bank use

Friday, 25th October 2019

Ministers have been asked to overhaul the Universal Credit system after fresh claims that the built-in five week wait for payments is causing poverty and increased food bank use. The main food bank charity, the Trussell Trust, are claiming the... View Article

Government launches ‘shared ownership’ right to buy for HA tenants

Friday, 25th October 2019

The Government has revealed it wants to give housing association tenants the right to buy shares in their homes under proposals outlined at the Conservative Party Conference. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced that tenants should have the right to purchase... View Article

Hyde spends £17m on fixing Grenfell-type property faults

Friday, 25th October 2019

One of the country’s largest social landlords, Hyde has reported that it spent almost £17 million in its last full year on fixing faults identified during fire safety checks. The association owns 50,000 homes, many of them in London and... View Article

Slow progress in removing Grenfell-style ACM cladding revealed

Friday, 25th October 2019

More than 160 residential tower blocks covered in aluminium composite cladding have yet to see any removal work begin on them, despite more than two years having passed since the Grenfell Tower fire. The slow rate of progress is frustrating... View Article

Capital’s biggest HAs estimate fire safety costs at almost £7bn

Friday, 25th October 2019

A group of the largest housing associations in London has estimated the total cost of fire safety works to their residential stock in the capital at an eye-watering £6.87bn. The G15 group says that combined they own 1,145 buildings over... View Article

Households in temporary accommodation at highest level since 2007

Friday, 25th October 2019

Nearly 85,000 households were being accommodated by English councils in B&B hotels and hostels at the end of March – the highest level in over a decade and a year after a piece of flagship legislation to combat it came... View Article

Housing crisis affects an estimated 8.4 million in England

Friday, 25th October 2019

The full extent of the housing crisis blighting England has been laid bare by new research showing that an estimated 8.4 million people are living in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home. This is equivalent to one in seven of... View Article

New generation expansion vessels from Flamco

Thursday, 24th October 2019

There’s an exciting new range of expansion vessels available from Flamco. The Flexcon Premium range benefits from a new and unique plastic membrane, and offers raw materials and energy savings, whilst offering a 15-year guarantee. That’s more than double the... View Article

City’s new five-year Housing Strategy approved

Friday, 18th October 2019

City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet recently approved a new five-year Housing Strategy for the city. Residents and stakeholders were consulted on the new strategy ‘Better Homes for All’, which sets out the council’s ambitions from 2019 to 2024. It outlines... View Article

Encasement acquires Pendock from Davidson Holdings

Thursday, 17th October 2019

Peterborough based architectural and decorative casing solutions specialist, Encasement Ltd, has acquired Pendock as part of its strategy to expand into new market sectors, while increasing production capacity with the addition of Pendock’s UK based manufacturing facilities. Encasement was formed... View Article

The future of construction gets scrutinised at UK Construction Week 2019

Wednesday, 16th October 2019

An eclectic, forward thinking crowd of 34,327 construction professionals attended UK Construction Week on 8-10 October. There was a particular swell in visitors keen to learn about future technologies and how they could be applied to their businesses The future... View Article

LGiU response – Queen’s Speech

Wednesday, 16th October 2019

Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive, LGiU said: “While we welcome the promises of further devolution to local government and a long awaited social care white paper in today’s Queen’s Speech, we will unfortunately have to add them to the long list... View Article

UK rents continuing to grow as housing market slows

Wednesday, 16th October 2019

HOMELET’s Rental Index figures for September 2019 have been released. The headlines from this month’s report are: The average rent in the UK is now £967, up by 2.5% on the same time last year When London is excluded, the average... View Article

ASFP releases programme for London seminar

Tuesday, 8th October 2019

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) has now released the full programme for its CPD seminar in central London on 23 October 2019. The seminar, at the Aviva Building, 1 Undershaft, London EC3P 3DQ, aims to improve awareness of... View Article

Could rent caps be the new battleground?

Monday, 7th October 2019

Patrick Mooney, News Editor for Housing Management & Maintenance looks at whether rent control is going to dominate the private rental sector A barrage of new rules and tougher regulation has rained down on the private rented sector in the... View Article

New heating system cuts costs to council tenants and environment

Thursday, 3rd October 2019

Croydon Council is piloting a low-carbon, ground-source heat pump system to reduce council tenants’ bills while helping the environment. The heat pump being installed at a 10-storey block in New Addington will reduce carbon emissions, help improve air quality, and... View Article

Housing Associations leading the way on quality social housing

Monday, 30th September 2019

The Regulator for Social Housing has released the latest private registered provider (PRP) social housing stock in England – stock profile statistics, which revealed the following: PRPs reported 8,979 units failed to meet the Decent Homes Standard in 2019. Since... View Article