Section: Yesterday's News
Five Years Ago
In March 2003 we were reporting:
- The Government confirmed the ten pathfinder councils to pilot proposed benefit shopping incentives. Private tenants in pathfinder areas will have a locally flat rate of housing allowance set. If they move to cheaper accommodation they benefit by keeping the difference. If successful, the pilots may be extended across the UK and similar arrangements could be introduced in the social housing sector.......
- The first meeting took place of a working group, set up to consider alternative models for funding future housing stock transfers. The group, which includes in its membership representatives from the Housing Corporation and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, will look at various proposals.......
- The Scottish Executive made £4,000 plus (an amount based on stock numbers) available to each local authority to promote household insurance to their tenants. Glasgow HA, which recently took over the stock of Glasgow Council, received a similar allocation.......
- The Government published new guidance on tackling antisocial behaviour through Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). The new guidance follows research by Sheffield Hallam and York Universities, which found nuisance and antisocial behaviour were widespread problems - often worse in high density, low-income areas, many of which suffer from multiple deprivation.......
- The draft Housing Bill was published for consultation, which includes proposals for a mandatory licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation. It also makes way for Home Information Packs, aimed at making it easier for people buying and selling homes.......
- East Lothian Council decided on an alternative to bed and breakfast and invested in a number of log cabins. At £30,000 each, the Council regards the cabins as a more desirable and cost-effective strateg.......
- Sheffield Council became the first local authority in England to extend the Government's decent homes standard to private sector housing. The Council's private sector housing strategy estimates that one-fifth of the City's 135,000 private homes fail to meet the decent homes standard. It will take £124 million to meet the standard and about 25% of this will be met by the Council through grants.......
- Eight housing associations embarked on a flexible working pilot project funded by the Housing Corporation, which will offer staff the chance to work from home. The associations taking part are Aspire Housing, East Thames, Endeavour, Liverpool Housing Trust, Pavilion, Saxon Weald, Shepherds Bush and Ujima.......
One Year Ago
In March 2007 we were reporting:
- The Government launched a major modernisation of the Building Control system with the publication of a paper detailing its vision for how the system can be improved. The paper recognises a number of important shortcomings with the current system including the lack of a clear future vision for the purpose of Building Control, the current piecemeal approach to regulatory change and the complexity of guidance.......
- The CIH Cymru Conference was the venue for the launch of a new report - Housing Education and Training in Wales, which calls for housing studies to be made more accessible in order to meet the changing needs of the sector. The report is the result of a collaborative study carried out by CIH Cymru, Cardiff University, University of Wales Institute Cardiff and North East Wales Institute of Higher Education.......
- A new National Homelessness Advice Service is also being launched in partnership with Shelter and the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). This will give everyone across the country the opportunity to access homelessness advice through trained advisers at CABs, to prevent their family from becoming homeless........
- According to a new Housing Corporation publication, clear and transparent charge setting should be part of a housing association's financial strategy. Launched by the Housing Corporation at the CIH South East Conference, Service Charges: Value for Money? is a guide which for the first time explores customer expectation and service provision.......
- The man who founded the successful Big Issue magazine, John Bird, is to stand as an independent candidate for the Mayor of London. He will to challenge Ken Livingstone for the post in the election in spring 2008. John Bird intends to run on a platform of "social inclusion", representing housing estates and communities and highlighting issues such as ghettoisation.......
- The Housing Corporation published a good practice note on partnership working, that details changes in the legal status for housing associations in terms of local Crime and Disorder Partnerships (CDRPs). The change in legal status means that housing associations now have an enhanced duty to work alongside CDRPs to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in their communities........
- The Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Baseline Evaluation report was published, showing that the nine pathfinders have made a strong start in reviving housing markets in their areas. However, the report also concludes that there remains considerable progress to be made over the lifetime of the programme. Vacancies and low value sales have fallen, and demand for social housing has increas.......