Section: Yesterday's News
Five Years Ago
In June 2003 we were reporting:
- Meridian Delta's plans to redevelop the Greenwich Peninsula area won the support of London Mayor Ken Livingstone, following a commitment to an increase in the affordable housing provided for. The programme now allows for 3,800 social rented and shared ownership properties, as well as 300 student and sheltered dwellings........
- The Government announced a £28 million funding package to tackle the blight of low housing demand and abandonment in the North and Midlands. Market Renewal Pathfinders will receive £4 million each to support solutions to housing problems, aimed at reversing the exodus of residents from communities.......
- The Government's target of eliminating the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families by March 2004 received a small boost with the announcement of the latest figures. Lord Rooker started his term as Minister of State with a portfolio including homelessness by announcing a 16% drop in the number of families in B&B over three months.......
- The Government announced its intention to consult on whether to afford same sex couples the same rights as married couples to inherit a tenancy. This follows a consultation exercise by the Law Commission, which proposed giving all couples cohabiting the same rights........
- The Housing Ownership Task Force confirmed its intention to reduce the number of low-cost home ownership models, with the aim of making them more popular. Currently, there are around 12 separate schemes and the Task Force recognises that this can be confusing. Whilst difficult, the aim is to reduce the number of schemes to three models.......
- Hull Council agreed to take quick action to demolish over 600 properties in an attempt to avoid intervention by the Audit Commission. An earlier report from the Commission on the Council's corporate governance was highly critical and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister warned of intervention unless recommendations in the report were responded to.......
- The Government admitted that its 2001 manifesto commitment to help 10,000 key workers find homes by April 2004 was unlikely to be met. The Starter Homes Initiative has not seen the expected take up level of its £250 million budget and it is now planned to relax rules to provide a much needed boost. .......
- Edinburgh Council is likely to become the first local authority in Scotland to have a statutory policy on affordable housing. This follows a Scottish Executive ruling that the Council was being reasonable in requiring developers to include a proportion of affordable housing in new housing schemes.......
One Year Ago
In June 2007 we were reporting:
- The Government announced that a trial to improve the way that DWP, HMRC and local authorities help customers has speeded up the processing of benefits and tax credits to customers in North Tyneside and will be extended to a further six local authorities.
The trial involved the sharing of customers' information between the DWP and HMRC and North Tyneside Council........
- New proposals could see social housing tenants who consistently get a poor service - such as long waits for repairs or failure to deal with concerns about poor security - being able to report their landlord to a new, independent social housing watchdog and trigger action to put it right.......
- Almost half of the new council homes completed in London last year were built by Wandsworth. Government figures for 2006 show that councils built just 98 new homes for renting to local people in need. Of these, 47 were in Wandsworth.......
- The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched a market study into the £20 billion per annum UK house building industry. The study will allow the OFT to consider the potential competition and consumer concerns within the market........
- Local Government Minister, Phil Woolas unveiled a new comprehensive strategy for delivering housing related support services to vulnerable people with a key role for the third sector at its heart. The Supporting People Strategy builds on the current programme, which helps more than a million people a year maintain their independence, through housing related support services.......
- New research reveals failure to provide supported homes for most vulnerable people in London. A joint report by the London Housing Federation, Mayor of London and the Housing Corporation reveals that London has a serious shortage of specialist supported housing. This shortage is most acute for certain socially-excluded groups of people.......
- Council houses are among the most energy efficient homes in the country, according to a new major report into house conditions. The new report reveals that social sector housing, currently undergoing a £40 billion overhaul, is much more energy efficient and is being improved at a faster rate than privately-owned housing.......
- Soul superstar and double Brit award winner Joss Stone was the main act on the Left Field stage for the Shelter Day at the Glastonbury festival. The Devon-born singer, who has sold more than 7.5 million albums worldwide, championed the Left Field stage on Friday night of the festival in a gig hosted by virtualfestivals.com for housing and homeless charity Shelter.......
