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From the archive - the struggle for the control of council estates
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
The struggle for control of council estates played out on the front page of Inside Housing 30 years ago.
The front page story concerned Salisbury Council, which had just voted to set up a new housing association to buy its homes, pre-empting plans by the Conservative government of the day to give landlords the power to take over council estates.
The Conservative-controlled council agreed to establish a housing association to be called Chequer, with transfer of the homes to be dependent on negotiations on the price and split of responsibilities.
Wendy Plumridge, housing and environmental health officer at the council, said: “It started in response to the Housing Bill. If we lose our stock, what is going to happen to the homeless families? We felt we were not in a strong position to put up a fight against new landlords.”
20 years ago
Gordon Brown – then chancellor – had set aside a £50m mentoring fund to help homeless people get back to work. But homelessness charities criticised the plan, saying it would exclude those most in need.
Victor Adebowale, chief executive of the charity Centrepoint, welcomed plans for recruiting 100,000 mentors in four years, but said it was not a priority for young homeless people.
“A safe place to live and help to maintain the accommodation is the first step,” he said.
“Mentoring works, but Centrepoint knows that young people are hard hit by housing benefit restrictions. It’s difficult to get and maintain full-time work without a place to iron clothes or get a good night’s sleep.”
The Foyer Federation, another homelessness organisation, said: “On the face of it, it’s a great initiative, but we don’t know who it is directed at.”
Other homelessness groups said it wouldn’t help the core of homeless people. “There won’t be any funding left for them,” said Simeon Brody, co-ordinator at the National Homeless Alliance.
Picture: Carl Court
10 years ago
Housing officers should become more like support workers, and help tackle unemployment among their tenants, the sector was told.
Housing associations and councils were meeting with housing minister Caroline Flint (above) and welfare minister Stephen Timms to explore the idea, which came after Ms Flint controversially suggested that out of work tenants who failed to look for work could risk losing their homes.
Rebecca Pritchard, head of support at the National Housing Federation, said: “What we want is long-term, sustainable funding, that recognises that some people are a long way from being ready to work.”
Notting Hill chief executive Kate Davies said the sector should follow supported housing in creating “a more structured programme”.
