When even the immigration minister struggles to enforce the rules, what chance do private landlords have? Mark Harper’s difficulty in getting to grips with his own immigration rules should give all parties pause for thought. Is it really sensible to extend the checks imposed on employers so that even trickier ones have to be carried…
When there’s a housing shortage, only a fraction of those affected end up sleeping on the streets or in council temporary accommodation. What happens to the rest? Analysis of data from the 2011 Census is building up a picture of those most affected by the housing crisis. The latest revelation is that well over a…
Ever since numbers of asylum seekers began to shoot upwards in the late 1990s, government support has had two conflicting objectives: complying with international obligations to care for the victims, while at the same time deterring as many asylum seekers as possible from coming here. More recently we could add a third: cutting the costs…
The new right-to-transfer finally allows tenants to own their homes again, but time is already running out. The faltering history of council tenants’ attempts to become collective owners of their own estates entered a new phase last week when right-to-transfer regulations finally took effect in England. It’s taken more than five years, two governments and…
There is potential to build an extra 60,000 homes over five years if borrowing restrictions are lifted. So why is the government still applying double standards? In an era of privatisation, it’s been good to see some promises about public sector infrastructure investment in the last few weeks. But why should they have to count…
A Municipal Bond Agency would free up local authorities to invest in housing and other services, without adding to government debt. But some key reforms to the borrowing rules will be needed The plan to set up a Municipal Bond Agency, announced last week, could be an important step not only to provide access to…
Inside Housing’s investigations into councils moving money from rent accounts to their general funds have shown up some questionable practices (Inside Housing, 11 October). But to turn this into an argument against giving councils wider powers to invest in council housing would be to confuse two separate issues.
The government wants homes to be energy efficient and to cut fuel poverty – but are its policies working? It sometimes feels that there is more heat than light in government policies on energy efficiency. The wholesale changes made by the coalition mean that it’s been difficult to work out what impact policies are having….