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Financial viability of the social housing sector: introducing the Affordable Homes Programme
Posted on: 4 July 2012
By: mackene
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The National Audit Office has today published its report on the Government’s new Affordable Homes Programme, aimed at delivering below market price housing. While the report found the launch of the Programme by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Homes and Communities Agency to be a success, with providers committing themselves to building some 80,000 homes for the £1.8 billion of government investment, compared to the initial target of 56,000, the report highlights a number of key risks. Nearly a fifth of contracts with housing providers remain to be signed; more than half of the planned homes are not currently due to be delivered until the final year of the Programme; and some providers are concerned that they may not be able to charge rents at the levels they originally agreed with the Programme.
Allocation of accommodation: Guidance for local housing authorities in England
Posted on: 2 July 2012
By: mackene
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This new statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local authorities in England aims to assist them to take advantage of the provisions in the Localism Act 2011 which give back to local authorities the freedom to manage their own waiting lists, and make it easier for them to move existing social tenants to more suitable accommodation. It also encourages authorities to make use of the existing flexibilities within the allocation legislation to ensure that social homes go to people who need and deserve them the most, such as hard working families and members of the Armed Forces.
New tenure arrangements: management implications
Posted on: 29 June 2012
By: mackene
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The National Housing Federation has published a briefing paper on the management implications of the new tenure arrangements. Issues covered include: the relationship between rent levels and forms of tenure; the difference between a fixed-term tenancy and a periodic tenancy; the use of fixed-term tenancies and the length of the term; and operational issues relating to fixed-term tenancies.
Viability testing local plans: Advice for planning practitioners
Posted on: 25 June 2012
By: mackene
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The Local Housing Delivery Group, set up by housing minister Grant Shapps, has published an assessment of Local Plans’ ability to deliver new homes. This report is a resource for local authorities to help ensure their local plans are viable and deliverable. It provides practical, step-by-step advice for planning practitioners on how their local plans can effectively address the viability of residential land in their area. The Group has produced an interim report, A Review of Local Standards for the Delivery of New Homes. It concludes that there is significant scope for simplification of the standards regime and recommends an urgent Government-backed review and consolidation of existing local housing standards to ensure they meet the aspirations of local communities without undermining viability.
Together at home: A new strategy for housing
Posted on: 21 June 2012
By: mackene
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The Institute for Public Policy Research has published the final report of its review of housing policy. It argues that English housing is unfit for purpose and brings together a number of policy strands to present a new and often radical strategy for housing in England. The report: makes a social argument for homeownership as a way to foster mixed, stable, integrated communities; proposes a better deal for renters in both the privately rented sector and in social housing; and advocates a new form of progressive localism in housing, through a system of affordable housing grants.
A survey of low and zero carbon technologies in new housing
Posted on: 21 June 2012
By: mackene
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The recently published Today’s attitudes to low and zero carbon homes: views of occupiers, house builders and housing associations highlighted the need for low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies that are reliable, perform to expectations and are capable of being used by home occupiers to achieve their design potential. To provide further guidance on these issues, this report investigates LZC technologies currently being used and likely to become dominant in the market. Through in-depth interviews with homeowners, carried out by the School of Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Reading, this research reports on their day-to-day use and attitudes towards these technologies. Additional findings from the study of occupiers living in homes fitted with low and zero carbon technologies will be presented in a report once the research is concluded later this year.
Park homes
Posted on: 20 June 2012
By: mackene
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Legislation ‘more suited to the 1960s’ is failing to protect park home residents from exploitation by unscrupulous owners, according to the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee. About 160,000 people live in 84,000 park homes which accounts for around 0.38% of the total housing in England. There are around 1,950 park home sites across England, which are concentrated in rural and seaside locations. The vast majority of park home sites are privately owned with a small number owned by local authorities. Park homes have proved attractive to retired people wishing to release capital from the sale of a house and find a pleasant and peaceful location with a sense of community to live in permanently. As a consequence park residents tend to be older than the population as a whole: in 1992 about 55% of park homes were occupied by people aged 60 or over. A decade later this proportion had risen to over 68%. The Select Committee has published the findings of an inquiry which aimed to the key issues that residents face, to assess the scale of the problems and to examine what legislative solutions might be appropriate.
3rd “Policy Meets Research” Workshop on Sustainable Housing. Helsinki, 7-8 June 2012
Posted on: 18 June 2012
By: mackene
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The overriding objective of the project “CORPUS – Enhancing the Connectivity Between Research and Policy-Making in Sustainable Consumption” is to experiment with and develop new integrative modalities of knowledge brokerage at the policy-science interface. This third “Policy meets research” Workshop on sustainable housing focused on scenario building. Presentations are available online.
On the Pulse: housing routes to better health outcomes for older people
Posted on: 15 June 2012
By: mackene
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This is a new report launched by the National Housing Federation and supported by the Housing Learning and Improvement Network. The report features analysis of current health and care priorities and explores how housing associations can work with health and social care commissioners to: enable older people to manage changes in their health; help people live as independently as possible; and reduce the need for more costly care. The report features six case studies which describe some innovative solutions our members have developed.
High Income Social Tenants: Pay to Stay consultation
Posted on: 14 June 2012
By: mackene
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The government has published proposals to introduce a ‘Pay to Stay’ scheme whereby landlords could charge a fair rent to tenants on high incomes who want to stay in their social homes. The consultation paper seeks views on how such a scheme would operate, and at what level the income threshold to require higher payments should be set. The government intends to apply the proposals to new and existing tenants, although it asks for views on problems applying the plans to the latter group. Comments are requested by 12 September 2012.
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