Section: Yesterday's News

FIVE YEARS AGO

In September 2000 we were reporting:

A pioneering apartment block that has been purpose-designed to attract single people on middle incomes to live in the centre of Leeds was formally opened.

Known as CASPAR - City-centre Apartments for Single People at Affordable Rents - the crescent-shaped block of 45 flats is a demonstration project developed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The innovative design by architects Levitt Bernstein was the winning entry in a competition to plan an attractive building that would encourage economically-active single people to make the City's centre their home...
The opening of a 145-home scheme in Telford marked the completion of the first fully serviced private finance initiative (PFI) housing scheme. The bulk of the £10.5 million funding for the Defence Housing Executive and Riverside HA initiative was secured from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Association had a 25-year management and maintenance contract for the RAF personnel homes, with various built in options – including eventual stock transfer...

The Housing Corporation announced a programme of widespread changes, aimed at improving its services to landlords and tenants. The key changes proposed included:

Separate, focused leadership for Investment and Regulation in four new regions.
A new Inspection service to ensure Best Value and continuous improvement for consumers.
Transfer of all grant bidding and payment systems to the Internet.
Review and streamlining of Performance Standards and the Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR)�

Forty-five communities in England and five in Wales heard they were to get dedicated wardens to help improve community safety and combat deprivation. The schemes aimed to recruit 270 wardens to deal with anti-social behaviour, vandalism, community safety and racial harassment. The new wardens' role also included being responsible for reporting broken street lights, monitoring the state of pavements and supporting vulnerable residents and victims of crime.

The projects were supported by a £7.5 million Government cash boost. They were the first successful bids for a share of £13.5 million allocated to support and develop neighbourhood wardens schemes�
In their 25th annual report, the three Local Government Ombudsmen for England reported that during 1999/2000 they received 17,555 complaints. This was an increase on the previous year, when they decided a then record number of 16,759 cases.

The year saw a dramatic 73% increase in the number of complaints about the administration of Housing Benefits�
The Housing Corporation launched a new policy, aimed at improving the real choices available to tenants of registered social landlords (RSLs) in the control they have over the management of their homes.

The new policy – Communities in Control: Options for Residents – brought together proposals outlined in two Corporation consultation documents, published in the previous year. The aim was to respond to the demand for more resident control in social housing, by establishing a framework where residents are able to choose and have as much or as little control as they wish...

ONE YEAR AGO

In September 2004 we were reporting:

A Peabody Trust development on the site of a former school in Fulham was judged the best example of affordable housing at this year's Housing Design Awards. The Housing Corporation sponsored award, won by the innovative Beaufort House development, was presented to the Peabody Trust at a ceremony held at the Business Design Centre in Islington...
New strategy to reduce begging, drawn up by Westminster and Camden Councils is to be stepped up. As of December 2003, offender's details were stored on the National Police Database, allowing police to identify both repeat offenders and those linked with more serious crime. Persistent beggars are likely to meet with antisocial behaviour strategies, including Antisocial Behaviour Orders...
The Black and Minority Housing Crisis, which was published in September 2004, revealed that homelessness among black and ethnic minority households increased twice as fast, when compared to the general population. The report cited BME housing groups as disproportionately likely to suffer bad housing...
The Government finally accepted that the European Commission is correct in its view that registered social landlords (RSLs) are governed by public law for the purposes of EC procurement law. RSLs must, therefore, comply with the requirements of the EC Public Procurement Directives where these apply.

For contracts over set threshold values - which varies depending on what is being purchased - the Directives require that opportunities are advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)�
Responding to recommendations made in the Barker review of housing supply, the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott issued a consultation on proposals to strengthen links between housing and planning strategies at regional level.

Launched as a key step in the drive to deliver more affordable homes and tackle the blight of housing abandonment, the 12-week consultation sets out plans to merge Regional Housing Boards with Regional Planning Bodies.

Under the proposals, Regional Assemblies will have responsibility for producing their Regional Housing Strategies, which advise Ministers on local housing needs and the use of funds for housing investment in the regions�
The Government appeared to give conflicting information about the possibility of arm's-length management organisations (ALMOs) taking over ownership of council stock.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announced its review into the long-term future of ALMOs, in which it appeared to suggest that the status quo would continue - whereby ownership of council stock does not transfer to ALMOs but remains in the local authority sector.

A closer examination of the terms of reference of the review reveals that options to be considered for ALMOs that achieve the decent homes standard include transfer of ownership�

Section: Yesterday's News

FIVE YEARS AGO

ONE YEAR AGO

Housing Monthly Diary

Reporting on September 2005

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