In September 2001 we were reporting:
Scotland's Social Justice Minister, Jackie Baillie, launched a new executive agency called Communities Scotland, which takes over from Scottish Homes on 1 November 2001 and has a broader remit. A residuary body, retaining the name Scottish Homes, will manage the 4,000 houses that have not yet transferred from Scottish Homes to community ownership...
More help for the homeless in Northern Ireland was promised, following a complete review of homelessness strategy and services. The review found that there is a comparatively higher rate of homelessness in Northern Ireland than the rest of the U.K., with 12,694 households presenting to the Housing Executive as homeless last year...
The Government announced details of a £250 million Starter Home Initiative that will benefit over 10,000 key public sector workers, including 5,000 nurses, 3,500 teachers and 1,100 police officers.
£230 million of the Starter Home Initiative is to be allocated to 95 schemes providing assistance to over 8,000 key workers to buy their first homes, mainly through shared ownership or interest free equity loans. Around 63% of the available funding is being allocated to schemes in London, 28% to schemes in the South East and 9% to schemes in Eastern and South West regions...
The Local Government Ombudsman Annual Report 2000/01 reports 19,179 new complaints to the service in England during the year, with 18,220 complaints decided. Both are records. The total number of new complaints was 9.3% higher than in the previous year, which was due to the continued rise in complaints about Housing Benefits.
Guidance to help the Governing Bodies of housing associations assess their impact and performance was published. Treading the Boards is the outcome of a study commissioned last summer by the Housing Corporation into governance and effective performance in the housing association sector.
The guidance looks at the challenges facing the Boards of associations and examines the relationship between voluntary members and paid management. It also provides a useful framework for helping Boards to assess their effectiveness and the value they add to the success of their individual organisations - as well as helping senior managers who, in some cases, sit formally as members of the Board...
The Minister for Finance, Local Government & Communities, Edwina Hart, and the Secretary for State for Wales, Paul Murphy, jointly announced that all debts remaining with local authorities in Wales after transferring their housing stock to registered social landlords - potentially more than £300 million - will be funded directly by HM Treasury.
This will enable all local authorities in Wales to make the decision on whether to transfer their housing stocks to new or existing registered social landlords, without fear of incurring any overhanging debt from the transaction. This would be the case when any outstanding debt held by a council for its housing stock would be lower than the transfer valuation of the homes...
In September 2005 we were reporting:
Speaking at the NHF Communities Conference, Minister David Miliband admitted that the Government was likely to miss the 2010 decent homes target by as much as 10%. In his speech, Mr Miliband made reference to 90% of the target being the current trajectory for 2010...
A new report from the influential think-tank Social Market Foundation concludes that the decent homes target should be either scrapped or rewritten. The report argues that the target could lead to wasteful investment in housing and calls on a reassessment by government on whether it is still needed...
New statistics compiled by HouseMark and the National Federation of Arm's-length Management Organisations (ALMOs) show tenant satisfaction for ALMOs measured at 77%. The statistics are based on data provided by 43 arm's-length management organisations in 2004/05. For the first time, this places them ahead of both local authority and housing association landlords...
The Government announced new measures to make buildings more energy efficient and produce savings of one million tonnes of carbon per year by 2010. The changes to Parts F and L (ventilation and fuel conservation) of the Building Regulations two years ahead of schedule from April 2006 and the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will make a major contribution to the UK's commitment to combat climate change. This will mean new homes will need to be better insulated and make use of more efficient heating systems...
Twenty-six Neighbourhood Wardens become the first to gain a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) specifically for wardens, which recognises the skills needed for the job. Wardens who have gained the qualification carry out their duties in Birmingham, Coventry, London, Manchester, Swindon, Worcester and Wales.
The Community Wardens NVQ Level Two is a nationally recognised qualification, based on competence in the workplace. It is open to all wardens who feel they have reached this level of ability in their job...
Young people living independently face greater challenges in building a better future. The job of Foyers is to give them more opportunities to do so. Many young people living in Foyers have had a disrupted education and need additional help before they feel ready to move back into a more formal learning environment.
Time is not on their side as, despite the Government's commitment to lifelong learning, we still have a system which strongly discourages full-time study after the age of 18 (except at university). This leaves those who have fallen furthest behind in the education race with least opportunity to catch up...
Despite an appeal from Local Government and Communities Minister David Miliband not to support the motion, delegates at the Labour Party conference voted overwhelmingly in favour of a fourth option for investment in council housing. The Minister said, 'the only way to meet the demand of the motion would be to rob Peter to pay Paul: less for new build or fewer people helped. We just can't do that.'...
A survey conducted by Access Matrix found that 60% of housing associations had not complied with the legal requirement to carry out a risk assessment to assess the risk of staff suffering physically or mentally as a result of their work...
