Do you want to read a romantic romp set in a social housing estate? Mind Games and Ministers might be just the book to pack into your holiday luggage next time around. Not many novels set in social housing are written by people who have actually worked as housing managers. There are plenty of books…
English councils’ budgets for 2014/15, published this month, show that their current spending has fallen by 23% over the five years of this parliament. How have the cuts affected housing? Chartered Institute of Housing figures show that housing fared worse than many other services with a 28% cut – once housing benefit was taken out…
Our analysis has revealed that England lost almost 35,000 social homes in a year. Chartered Institute of Housing policy adviser John Perry examines the reasons behind the decline and looks ahead to the future. CIH’s assessment of the decline in numbers of social lettings has caught the attention of the Financial Times. Although we still…
How do we boost the supply of new homes? John Perry, CIH policy adviser, says the options for change in the run-up to the general election have never been greater. Here he sets out why changing the borrowing rules is an option worth considering. Earlier this month, 50 councils and ALMOs from across the…
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.