Check out this excellent article by Peter Apps (former Inside Housing magazine). Powerful factual arguments that is a million miles away from far right fake news. “As the far right march through the streets of Britain, it is worth reminding oursel…Read more…
Confiscate the Homes of Bad Landlords
Hat tip to Housing Journo @PeteApps on this Observer article and well done to Clive for coming out with something quite radical but really sensible and worth doing.My only hesitation was “Great idea but I do think to be fair & consistent that socia…Read more…
Inside Housing calls for the next government to “Build Social”
Many will support the new campaign by magazine/social media site “Inside Housing” for the next Government to build more social housing. As a London Councillor and front facing Housing worker, I see pretty much every week the devastation that the …Read more…
“Housing association customer services have become a fourth emergency services line”
I will pretty much totally agree with this article published in “Inside Housing” (subscription) about Housing Associations (and I would say Council housing) having to become the 4th emergency service to support very vulnerable, stressed and even suicid…Read more…
Is it about time we broke up these “mega monopolies” housing associations?
L&Q is headquartered in Newham and is also one of the largest UNISON “shops” in my branch. So I have had a fair amount of contact (and sometimes conflict) with L&Q over the years. Check out this “Inside Housing” Report on Friday. I w…Read more…
Shared ownership can become ‘financially unsustainable’ for buyers over time, report warns
“Shared ownership risks becoming “financially unsustainable” for lower-income buyers over time due to its “upward-only” costs and a system that requires them to buy as much as they can afford at the outset, a new report has warned” (Inside Housin…Read more…
Developer defends plans to put social homes in blocks serving as a ‘noise buffer’
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…
“End our Cladding Scandal: Developers make £5.2 billion in profits while leaseholders face huge bills for safety works”
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…
Housing Associations branch supports UNISON End Violence at Work Charter
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…
Assaults survey: full findings reveal rising abuse of frontline housing staff
“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…
Why voluntary right to buy for Housing Associations is nuts
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…
“Half of UK’s Largest Housing Associations see gender pay gap grow”
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…
“East End promise: an interview with Newham mayor Rokhsana Fiaz”
(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…
Be Really Shocked about Homelessness in Newham
“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…
10,000 Housing workers face threat to their pensions because: “The whole yardstick for measuring the cost of liabilities in pension schemes is broken”
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…
“50th anniversary of Ronan Point” & “Are tenants being listened to on safety?” (NO)
“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…
Closing the housing gender pay gap in a “mans world”.
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…
“How the housing crisis is affecting the sector’s own staff”
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…
Assaults against housing staff survey 2017
If you work in social housing please spend 10 minutes filling out this important annual survey hereRead more…
Clarion Housing Group face Strike Call & Boycott
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…