All the union news that's fit to blog...
A dreadful story reported in “Inside Housing”
“Developer Lovell has defended itself after sparking an outcry by describing blocks of flats containing most of a proposed Bristol development’s social homes as a “noise buffer” between industry and other …Read more…
Need I say any more? Except many leaseholders are not only facing massive bills for the removal of dangerous cladding but also to make good other shoddy and incomplete safety work. While the government as the ultimate regulator of building standards sh…Read more…
Tonight I chaired UNISON London Housing Associations Branch Executive meeting during which we discussed our support of the End Violence at Work Charter.
I am pleased to report that a number of our branch employers are close to signing the Charte…Read more…
“He came right up to me and had his finger within inches of my face – it was awful.”
Alison* is describing an experience she had while working as a frontline housing officer in the North East of England. She was leading a public meeting for her local …Read more…
So scare government grant is being used to effectively give an existing social tenant a home which will then be lost for ever from social housing instead of being used to help build another social home? This is nuts in a housing crisis.
Hat tip Red Br…Read more…
Inside Housing this week had a number of stories and features on the growing gender pay gap in large Housing Associations.
See here (paywall) for links to full reports.
I was asked to comment “John Gray, national executive committee member fo…Read more…
(hat tip “Inside Housing”) Newham’s new mayor has a tough job on her hands to tackle some of the country’s worst housing deprivation. Peter Apps finds out how she plans to do it. Photography by Peter Searle
By several measures, …Read more…
“A fairly shocking housing stat I’ve come across as background to a feature: There are 7,515 children in temporary accommodation within the 36km² which makes up Newham, east London.
This compares to 4,920 across the 40,000km² which makes up the e…Read more…
This is my message to UNISON members of the Social Housing Pension Scheme, who will no doubt be worried about their families pension futures.
Inside Housing magazine has reported on this completely unwarranted attack on the Social Housing Pensio…Read more…
“Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz yesterday (Wednesday 16 May ) laid flowers and attended a special memorial event to mark the day, 50 years ago, that four people died in the Ronan Point tower block disaster.
Ronan Point in Custom House was a 22 storey block near …Read more…
Check out this article in last Friday’s Inside Housing on the recent compulsory disclosure on gender pay in the sector. I made some points on behalf of my UNISON branch.
“Last April, the middle-earning woman at Genesis earned 71 pence for …Read more…
A harrowing and disturbing article by Inside Housing’s Jess McCabe. What happens when the workers who try and provide homes for the vulnerable are themselves living as homeless. What a sick society we live in. Employers must accept their responsibility…Read more…
If you work in social housing please spend 10 minutes filling out this important annual survey hereRead more…
I do not understand at all how a progressive organisation that wants to do good for society has made a political decision that trade unions are automatically “bad” and that they will only work with them if they are forced to do so by a legislative proc…Read more…
Last week was European Health and Safety week. This is a time to think about work related safety matters.
Early this month I was rang by the radio programme “BBC 5 Live investigates”. They asked if I was available to be interviewed by the pr…Read more…
“Too many housing associations do not support the victims of workplace violence, says John Gray” Below is an opinion piece I wrote for Inside Housing last week (it is behind a paywall). I think you will find the same thing in many other sectors.
…Read more…
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Yesterday we had the news that Genesis, a large Housing Association is to stop building homes for rent following the recent Government budget.
Today, Inside Housing magazine reports that other housing associations are seeking advice on how to deregist…Read more…
My grown up job is a housing officer in East London. It was about 10 years ago during an eviction in a flat which had been taken over by violent criminals that I was assured by one of them that he would come back and put an “axe in my F……… head”….Read more…
“Inside Housing” on Friday had another gloomy article on the problems facing the Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS).
The “deficit” is apparently getting bigger and some Housing Associations are so worried that they are thinking of joining others who…Read more…