Right to Buy was the Thatcher government’s biggest privatisation. But with nearly two million homes already sold, can the next government at least start to replace the houses lost through future sales? The latest UK Housing Review shows that capital receipts from sales in England now total £42bn since Right to Buy began. It sounds like a…
A Whitehall-backed housing review has suggested councils could borrow from general funds if they have reached their Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap. But would such an approach make sense? When Natalie Elphicke and Keith House launched their new report on local authorities’ role in house building last week, they called on councils that have reached…
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…
Northern Ireland doesn’t show the same extremes as the housing market in the adjoining Republic but it’s certainly been caught in the backlash from the near collapse that has occurred south of the border. House prices in the six counties fell faster and further than anywhere else in the UK after their 2007 peak, so…
Now that the housing market is reviving and developers are demanding that planners release more land, it’s vital to ensure that a high proportion of the homes built are affordable. Planners can do this through the obligations they can impose when they give planning permissions, but there is little encouragement for them to do so….
This longer than usual post is one of a series of essays on policy themes published by the Chartered Institute of Housing. Since it was elected on the promise of becoming the ‘greenest government ever’, the Guardian’s green-o-meter has been monitoring the coalition’s progress. Back in early 2011, it was still doing pretty well, but…
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…