Section: Yesterday's News

Five Years Ago

In March 2001 we were reporting:

A new good practice guide was published, which aims to set out guidance for housing organisations seeking to set up contents insurance schemes for tenants. Commissioned by the Housing Corporation in partnership with the National Housing Federation and the Association of British Insurers, Insurance for All - A Good Practice Guide highlights the benefits of setting up insurance schemes for tenants...
A new way of getting vital housing information to homeless people was launched in Glasgow. The scheme involves printing useful information on sandwich bags, which will be used by day centres, soups runs, and charities to distribute sandwiches to homeless people. The idea came from the Glasgow Simon Community, and was backed by Scottish Homes and Shelter...
One-hundred-and-seventy-five successful bids for the Government's £250 million Starter Homes Initiative went successfully through to the second stage of bidding. The initiative aims to help 10,000 nurses, teachers, police, and other key workers to buy homes in areas where the high cost of housing might otherwise price them out of the communities they serve. More than 200 bids, mostly from registered social landlords, were submitted in the first stage...
The Law Commission was asked to undertake a major review of the law surrounding housing tenure in the social and private rented housing sectors. The request responds to the Commission's report, Reform of Housing Law: A Scoping Paper. The report highlights a range of issues within the current housing law framework, which are regarded as being in need of reform. The ultimate aim is to produce a less complex framework for housing law, which will be easier to understand, particularly by landlords and tenants...
Twenty-seven local authority-led pilot projects were given the go-ahead to test different ways of offering social tenants in England greater choice over their housing. The idea to test choice-based approaches to lettings with pilot schemes was originally proposed in the Housing Green Paper, published in April 2000. The pilot schemes, which will receive £13 million in funding, were chosen to test different choice based models, operating in a variety of circumstances. Many of the projects involve the development of new information technology systems. They also represent a broad geographical spread, covering areas of high and low demand and taking in rural as well as urban areas...
Thirty-eight projects from 75 bids were approved for grant funding in 2001/2002 as part of the Government's programme to help local authorities refurbish their Gypsy sites. This is the result of the first round of the three-year £17 million Gypsy Sites Refurbishment Grant programme. The programme is aimed at keeping the existing network of local authority sites open and available for use by Gypsies. The 38 successful bids in Round 1 amounted to almost 4 million. Gypsy Sites Refurbishment Grant will meet 75% of these costs. As part of the three year grant programme, a further £6 million grant will be made available in Round 2 (2002/03) and £8 million in Round 3 (year 2003/04)...
A three year funding package of £123,000 to the Cardiff Bond Board for a scheme to ensure fairness over the payment of bonds in the private rental market was announced by the National Assembly for Wales. Since 1992, the Cardiff Bond Board has helped nearly 2000 households and managed bonds worth more than £290,000. In this new project, the Board will hold the bond on behalf of the landlord and tenant, and, at the end of the tenancy, return it according to the terms of the tenancy. In the event of a dispute the Board will act as adjudicator...

One Year Ago

In March 2005 we were reporting:

Work and Pensions Minister Chris Pond launched the new streamlined 2005 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Performance Standards. The changes are designed to focus more clearly on the speed and accuracy that Benefit is paid, rather than the process of administering Housing Benefit...
The Government published its new homelessness strategy, Sustainable Communities: Settled Homes; Changing Lives, aimed at further reducing and preventing homelessness, including a target to cut the number of households living in temporary accommodation by half by 2010...
The ODPM announced the local authorities that have been selected as part of its new Regional Champions for Homelessness programme. Each authority chosen as a Regional Champion has already had success in tackling homelessness locally and will now share its experience, knowledge, and good practice with other councils across the region. In particular, the programme will enable authorities to share expertise around mediation and giving targeted help to those at risk of homelessness...
The Government confirmed it is looking at ways in which the resources of the private sector can be used to bolster the ODPM's low cost homeownership schemes. It is working with the Council of Mortgage Lenders, banks and building societies, as part of a wider review of low cost homeownership provision. Discussions have made considerable progress and general agreement has been reached on how any scheme would be implemented...
Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, announced that the Government is to consult on proposals to help council tenants wishing to use non-standard mortgage products to purchase their homes but cannot do so under current Right to Buy rules. Three kinds of non-standard mortgage product are currently available, all of which comply with Islamic (Sharia) law...
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive signed up to a joint initiative to tackle the problem of drunken student behaviour in Belfast. The Executive's involvement responds to its statutory responsibility for registering houses in multiple occupation. The initiative will finance eight full-time community street wardens to patrol the Holy Land area of the City and detect and deter antisocial behaviour perpetrated by students...
The Housing Corporation launched a new risk-based approach to regulation, starting by scaling back regulation for over 200 associations. Using a new model for assessing the likelihood and impact of risks in each association, those classified as low risk will benefit from less intrusive regulation. Medium and high risk associations will receive a more proportionate and tailored approach, focused on the likely risk and impact of things going wrong...

Section: Yesterday's News

Five Years Ago

One Year Ago

Housing Monthly Diary

Reporting on March 2006

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