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The Week in Housing: ‘Asleep at the wheel’
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Good afternoon.
It has been more than four years since a fire ripped through a retirement village in Crewe in August 2019.
The Beechmere development was built using a timber-frame structure, which was almost completely destroyed in the fire. More than 150 residents lost their homes and possessions; while none were injured, the fire service said the impact on their lives “has been significant”.
Inside Housing attended a hearing at Warrington Magistrates Court this week to hear that Your Housing Group pleaded not guilty in relation to the fire.
The housing association was one of six organisations that appeared, charged with fire safety offences. Of these, three companies entered not guilty pleas and the remaining firms gave no indication of a plea.
Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service brought a series of charges under fire safety legislation, following its investigation into fire.
The magistrate warned that the “complexities” of the case means that the trial could last up to 12 weeks. Inside Housing will be following the case when it returns to Chester Crown Court on 14 November.
Another big story this week was the news that Places for People and Origin Housing have begun merger talks.
The tie-up will see Origin become a subsidiary of the much larger 230,000-home landlord, which posted a post-tax surplus of £91.3m in the last financial year.
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Away from merger activity, the mayor of London had a pop at the government this week after prime minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to intervene in the capital’s after criticising Sadiq Khan’s record on delivery.
But as the mayor’s office pointed out, the government’s flagship Affordable Homes Programme is likely to fall around 1,000 homes short of its 250,000-home target. Mr Khan said the government “was asleep at the wheel”.
It’s not the only thing they’re asleep at.
One organisation with its foot firmly on the pedal of late is the Housing Ombudsman, which had good and bad news for the sector this week.
On the one hand, the watchdog’s annual complaints review for 2022-23 found that the number of severe maladministration findings has increased by 323%.
However, the ombudsman told Inside Housing the fact that 44% of residents feel that complaints do lead to change, up from 30% on 2021-22, showed progress is being made.
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) continued its recovery plan, as it announced proposals to remove powers from its tenant representative body in a bid to become compliant for governance.
It is nearly a year since the inquest into the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak concluded that he died from prolonged exposure to mould in an RBH flat. His family had complained to the housing association about the state of their property for years.
The month after the inquest, RBH was rated G3 – non-compliant for governance – by the Regulator of Social Housing.
The association’s tenant body, which is made up of tenants, RBH staff and Rochdale councillors, will no longer be able to appoint board members or approve the landlord’s corporate strategy, and will have a new power to conduct three scrutiny reviews per year if the changes are approved.
It will come as no surprise to anyone in the sector that homelessness continues to rise. The latest government data showed that the number of households in England who became homeless or were at risk of homelessness has increased 6.8% on the previous year.
Local authorities are feeling the pressure of dealing with this crisis in a number of ways. A new report from Nottingham City Council found there are an average of 165 open homelessness cases per officer, which is more than five times the advisable caseload.
The council has a strategy in place to help tackle the issue, but the report also warned that Nottingham is predicting a “significant” overspend this year on temporary accommodation.
Spending on temporary accommodation hit £1.7bn last year and this type of tenure is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Inside Housing has previously reported how the shortage in social rent homes is driving London councils to move more homeless people out of the city.
This is an issue that was raised by Medway Council after it asked the government to “urgently” review the policy of permitted development rights after a property management firm revealed it is housing homeless households from London in a former office block.
The system has long been controversial because developments do not need to go through the full local planning process, during which councils can demand a level of suitability for residential properties, for example on space standards and quality.
A recent Inside Housing investigation revealed that Medway Council was receiving the most homeless households from London local authorities. It, along with other councils in similar positions, said the trend was putting pressure on their services and making it harder for them to house homeless households in their area.
Another policy that also needs looking at are the rules that stop people in rent arrears from bidding for social housing. The authors of a new report have called for the rule to be abolished as part of proposals to ease the impact of housing-related debt on families.
In contrast to their recent on the pitch performances, Chelsea FC made some progress on a deal with a registered provider of supported housing for veterans which agreed to sell the majority of its flagship site in Fulham.
The deal comes after a successful consultation with Stoll’s residents, which will see the club’s ownership group take over the Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions site, under which the landlord will retain 20 flats in the property as part of the plans.
Finally, Inside Housing travelled north of Hadrian’s Wall for the Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference in Aberdeen.
While it was short on major housing announcements, the first minister made one interesting pledge. SNP leader Humza Yousaf outlined plans for the Scottish government to issue its first bond to fund affordable housing across the country by 2026.
The Scottish government has had the right to issue bonds since 2015, when the Treasury granted Holyrood additional powers after the unsuccessful 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
There’s a Braveheart joke about financial freedom in there somewhere.
Have a great weekend.
Stephen Delahunty, deputy news editor
Say hello: stephen.delahunty@insidehousing.co.uk
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