Section: Yesterday's News
Five Years Ago
In May 2000 we were reporting:
- The Audit Commission reported that powerful IT data-matching
techniques had helped local authorities and other public bodies to identify £41 million of fraud and overpayments in 1998. The most significant
area of fraud arose from Housing Benefit claimants failing to disclose earnings or occupational pensions...
- The views of people with
disabilities, their carers, and the construction industry were being sought by the Government, ahead of its revision of the Building Regulations
covering disabled access and facilities. The aim of the initiative was to improve people's quality of life through promoting sustainable development
by making buildings easier for disabled people and others to use...
- A new survey suggested that pupils living in overcrowded housing
achieve lower exam results than others who have a quiet space to do their homework. Living in temporary housing and moving schools also adversely
affects pupils' learning…
- It was announced that seven registered social landlords (RSLs) were to pilot a race equality toolkit, with
funding from the Housing Corporation's Innovation and Good Practice programme. The toolkit aimed to provide practical information and techniques to
enable RSLs to both implement and monitor service delivery to Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities within the Best Value
framework...
- A major review of the policy on transferring Welsh council housing into Community Ownership was announced by the Assembly's
Local Government and Housing Committee. The cost of the backlog of repairs and essential modernisation needed for council housing in Wales was
estimated to be at least £750 million. The Local Government and Housing Committee was tasked with considering whether voluntary stock transfer
into Community Ownership is the only option which is capable of delivering investment on a scale necessary to overcome this
backlog...
- Supported housing providers should put any anxieties about participation to one side and start involving residents in
delivering the service, according to a new directory funded by a Housing Corporation Innovation & Good Practice grant - Just Do It. The new
directory brought together a range of good practice examples of service user involvement, with advice on how to solve common problems. Its key
message was don't feel overwhelmed, look at what you're already doing, recognise what's good about it, and build on it...
- Housing
Minister, Nick Raynsford, announced significant progress towards establishing a new financial framework for local authority housing from April 2001,
following a number of consultation exercises. In a written answer to a Parliamentary Question, Mr Raynsford said – The new financial framework
will place authorities' accounts on a more business-like footing and encourage more efficient investment in the stock...
- A new
report from the Chartered Institute of Housing discussed new techniques for addressing the effects of rent changes and low demand on registered social
landlords (RSLs). The study, which was undertaken by HACAS Consulting, uses financial modelling techniques to give an estimate of the financial
effects for RSLs. One of the suggestions is that RSLs should move away from a needs-based approach to their business plans and asset management
strategies, and adopt methods based on a better understanding of housing markets...
One Year Ago
In May 2004 we
were reporting:
- The Government announced that it has met its target that, by 31 March 2004, local authorities should ensure that no
homeless family with children have to live in a bed and breakfast hotel, except in an emergency, and then for no more than six weeks. Whilst the
announcement was widely welcomed, it also had its critics. The exclusion of asylum seekers and families with children placed in bed and breakfast
accommodation by Social Service departments was seen by some as misrepresentation of the true position...
- The Government gave the go ahead
for plans to develop a £40 million revolutionary power plant, that could provide over 3,000 homes in and around Southampton with affordable
heating and hot water. This would see Nursling Generating Ltd develop the Combined Heat and Power District Heating Plant in Redbridge next to the
M271. When completed, the plant will provide a safe and cost effective energy source of heating and hot water for 3,440 local council homes, nine
schools and other buildings...
- Shelter launched a new board game called The Housing Game, which is designed to encourage young
people to think about homelessness and the pitfalls of leaving home…
- In the first case of its kind in the UK, a woman obtained legal aid
to take Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Housing Association to court, claiming that damp conditions in her flat triggered her son's asthma. It was
alleged that the seven-year-old boy's exposure to high levels of the faeces of house dust mites caused his condition. His mother was suing the
Council, as her previous landlord, and the Association as her current landlord, for £50,000 based on a landlord's statutory duty of care under
the Occupiers' Liability Scotland Act 1960...
- London's Mayor, Ken Livingstone, revealed that consideration was being given
to the possibility of building thousands of new homes on top of the Capital's underground and railway stations. There are already plans to use
space around Bermondsey Station. Over the next ten years, about 50% of the underground stations in London will be improved, offering opportunities
for new housing schemes...
- A Statutory Registration Scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) came into force in Northern Ireland on
1st May 2004. There are nearly 10,000 HMOs in Northern Ireland which house up to 40,000 people. The main purpose of the Scheme is to ensure that
safe and well-managed accommodation is provided. Apart from fire safety, other standards required relate to kitchen, toilet and washing
facilities...
- The Government announced details of a gap funding scheme that will make large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) available as
an option to those authorities whose housing stock has a negative value. This is defined as - where the projected income stream over 30 years is
less than the expenditure needed over that period to put, and keep, the stock in good condition. The gap will be bridged by staged annual
payments to the transfer housing association over a period of up to ten years...
