Section: Yesterday's News
Five Years Back
In November 2002 we were reporting:
- Fife Council backed out of the Government's aslum dispersal programme due to insufficient funding. The Council had prepared its strategy, which incorporated voluntary sector involvement to house 300 asylum seekers. However, the scheme was abandoned when the Government reviewed its dispersal policy and cut its contract time from 5 to 3 years, with accommodation limited to families only......
- The Minister responsible for tackling homelessness, Barbara Roche, announced that the Government intends to prohibit the use of Bed and Breakfast hotels as temporary accommodation for homeless families, by strengthening existing homelessness legislation. Bed and Breakfast accommodation has been deemed not suitable for households with dependent children and as such should only be used in emergencies. Even in emergencies it has been stipulated that this type of accommodation should only be used for a maximum of six weeks......
- The Government, in partnership with Comic Relief, announced that a new 24-hour free helpline will be set up to advise and assist women and children fleeing domestic violence. It is thought that domestic violence accounts for 16% of homeless cases, held by local authorities. The partnership forms a £2 million initiative to offer support and information to families threatened with violence from partners. The helpline will incorporate a new database of refuge vacancies and other specialist on-line services for victims of domestic violence......
- Bristol Council issued a warning that it would force entry to council properties where it suspects gas appliances have not been checked. About 450 tenants have been issued with safety warnings, which the Council fears could be ignored. Tenants that fail to respond to the safety warnings have been notified that they will be liable to pay for any damage caused by forced entry......
- Chester-le-Street DC was warned to take urgent action to improve its housing services, or otherwise face intervention by the Deputy Prime Minister. The Council became the first local authority in England to have a service referred to the Deputy Prime Minister. This action resulted from two successive poor inspection scores from the Audit Commission......
- Westminster Council increased its efforts to recover money owed by Dame Shirley Porter for her part in the homes for votes scandal. The former Council Leader and her then deputy, David Weeks, were ordered to pay the Council £37 million and the Council obtained Court Orders that effectively froze and ordered disclosure of her assets. It has since been revealed that Shirley Porter's assets now stand at only £300,000, prompting the Council to apply to the High Court to widen existing orders to include assets that the she may have transferred previously......
One Year Ago
In November 2006 we were reporting:
- The Department for Work and Pensions published its Pack of Lies, which aims to show how benefit thieves will use any excuse to get out of a difficult situation. Compiled as part of its No Ifs, No Buts campaign to stamp out benefit theft, the collection of lies features examples of excuses used by benefit thieves......
- With the support of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, ASRA Greater London Housing Association launched a specialist telephone service for its deaf and speech-impaired tenants. The Association's staff now use Typetalk, which is a dial direct national telephone relay service used by people with communication difficulties......
- Plans for a greener Thames Gateway, with more family homes, better designed buildings and stronger leadership to fulfil its economic potential, were unveiled. The Thames Gateway Interim Plan will lay down the foundations to create the conditions for 180,000 new jobs and 160,000 new homes over the next ten years, with over a third of these homes designated as affordable housing......
- East Lothian Housing Associationis digging deep for the heat for its new homes on the outskirts of Tranent. The 54 homes under construction will use the surrounding gardens to heat them. They are being fitted with heat pumps to provide low-cost hot water and heating for the Association's tenants. The system is safe, quiet, and efficient. Water is pumped through pipes in bore-holes to the side of each property, where the ground temperature heats it to 11 degrees centigrade. A compressor boosts the temperature to 45 degrees before the heat is transferred to the under floor heating system and hot water tank, where it is further boosted to 60 degrees......
- A new report, published forty years after the influential television play Cathy Come Home was first screened, reviews housing policy since 1966, with a special focus on the Eastern Region. Bringing it all Back Home, published by the Chartered Institute of Housing Eastern Branch, includes co-author Alan Brigham's focus on Romsey Town, a working class district of Cambridge. His focus on personal stories shows how broader changes have impacted upon individuals and neighbourhoods......
- The Government set out reforms to the planning system, which will help local authorities deliver more and better homes - including more affordable and family homes. Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) will tackle the obstacles in the current planning system that mean not enough suitable sites are available to deliver the homes families and local people need. In future, local authorities will need to plan their housing strategies much further ahead of time and identify suitable sites more quickly, to prevent much-needed houses being held up by unnecessary delays in the planning system......
- Derby City Council became the first local authority in England to sign a housing protocol agreement with the Housing Corporation, which will bring together the resources and skills of both organisations to deliver affordable housing across the City.
Based on a national protocol agreed between the Local Government Association and the Corporation, the housing protocols set out how the Corporation and local authorities will work together to deliver a common vision of affordable homes within strong communities, reflecting local priorities......
- Tenants of Paddington Churches Housing Association (PCHA) were given the chance to have their say through interactive voting technology provided at PCHA's annual tenant conference. The event, which took place at the Holiday Inn, Regents Park, attracted over 100 PCHA tenants from across London and Hertfordshire.
The theme was Delivering Service Excellence. Tenants were asked to register their opinions through interactive voting technology handsets on a number of topics, including their homes, the areas they live in, and their thoughts on PCHA......
- Birmingham City Council embarked on a major recruitment of tenants to lead the way in making further improvements to local housing services. Following successes in other sectors, the Council used a large volume recruitment process called Accelerate, hosted by the recruitment organisation Trinity, to identify nearly 100 new tenant volunteers. The purpose of the recruitment process was to get tenants involved in setting up new Constituency Tenant Groups. Ten new groups across the city will work with officers to increase tenant involvement, service improvements, and decision making at constituency level......
