Housing: creative solutions

  The proposal by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the National Housing Federation (NHF) to impose annual rent increases of CPI +1% for the next decade is not merely a policy suggestion. It is a microcosm of the structural assault embedded in the system, where institutions nominally tasked with supporting those who protect the vulnerable instead align with the interests of capital to further immiserate the poor. This is not an anomaly; it is the logical endpoint of a system designed to privatise gains and socialise costs, while masking exploitation in the language of necessity and progress. Who are the CIH and NHF? Though cloaked as advocates for housing justice, they operate within a framework that accepts as sacrosanct the priorities of state and corporate power. Their demand for above-inflation rent hikes—ostensibly to fund social housing construction—reveals a deeper allegiance to the logic of private profit. The claim that tenants must bear the burden of austerity ...

Following the debate about how many houses are needed in the UK, industry-expert Peter Brown directs our attention to a topic this argument could be overshadowing. The debate around how many new homes are  needed  misjudges the big issue – a new Labour government will struggle to increase housing completions for sale and for rent. Public services are failing, satisfaction rates are at record lows and waiting lists are soaring. Focusing on hospitals, schools and the courts,  the IPPR  claimed that public services won’t return to acceptable levels of quality until the 2030s and that the post-election government will inherit one of the most challenging contexts of any government since the Second World War. In October, at the Labour Party conference Keir Starmer’s pledged 1.5 million homes over the next parliament and conference was  told  that a Labour government will “deliver the biggest boost in affordable and social housing for a generation”. Yet despite a ...

Whatever sector, whatever industry you are in, these are challenging times. It is all hands to the pump to find the right course. And for those fearing their very survival, it is understandable that the search for that new, powerful idea should dominate. But success will never lie in new technology alone; it is also critical to look in the right direction, not to get waylaid into seemingly seductive solutions. Look at the business and be honest, are a series of technological innovations likely? And if they are, will they make the impact on your industry that you anticipate? For service organisations in particular, constant technomania is probably an absolute distraction from the core business. Worse, it will beguile you into believing there is a promised land; that there is a magic bullet that will solve the organisation’s problems. The techno-fetishists earn their crust by promoting ever whackier and unachievable ideas. New jobs are being created, innovation labs are springing up. Cha...

Published in Inside Housing: https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/this-ole-house-42273  

Make time This path is so well trodden it is difficult to see over the sides of the trench. The legal documentation has developed over many years so there is virtually no opportunity to change it. In addition, investors need to know heir investment is secure and so satisfactory title must be demonstrated. Depending on the type of organisation and the quality of your records, this can be inordinately difficult. There is no shortcut, so start early. Do your homework The financial world is just that, a different world. Investors will know more about you than you do about them. Most are knowledgeable about housing associations and what they do not know, their in-house analysts will discover. Any credit rating (and Moody’s dominates the market) will be used to verify their analysis and may give comfort that their understanding is correct. And comfort gives confidence. Confidence can lead to a lower rate of interest – but don’t bank on it. Learn the language Coupons aren’t supermarket money-...

  We are preparing our new corporate plan. With the end of the next Parliament likely to be in 2020, what is going to be different? What will have changed irrevocably; fundamental shifts that will transform how we view our world. With the Chancellor announcing that another £25bn of cuts is needed in the first two years after the election, there are four key trends that are evident.  Public services are being dismembered. Assets are being transferred into the private sector rapidly and that is likely to be accelerated after the next election. At the end of 2013, 3,670 schools had become Academy schools. There are no national figures available, but the Local Authority accounts in the county where we work show that school buildings to the value of £40m have been transferred so far. In 2014, 56% of English secondary schools were academies. Primary schools, 11% and growing. In January 2014, it was estimated that 70% of contracts being awarded by the NHS were going to private compan...

  Abstract The 1996 Housing Act brought ‘antisocial behaviour’ within the remit of housing legislation for the first time. This legislation is directed exclusively at those living in council housing. There still remains uncertainty about the exact nature of ‘antisocial’ behaviour. This has implications for the reasons for outlawing it and for the application of this legislation. Using data from the British Crime Survey, it is argued that there is insufficient evidence of a growth in antisocial behaviour. This legislation is directed exclusively at those living in council housing. What appears to be occurring on local authority housing estates is that a combination of, among other things, high unemployment, high child densities and lack of public funding in community and associated facilities is resulting in higher rates of vandalism. The legislation, in reality, seeks to legitimise opposition to a range of previously acceptable behaviours. For publication click here . For complete ...