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Short on time? Thursday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: No solution to Universal Credit rent update issue in time for April increases
Most social landlords will need to undertake the intensive task of verifying individual tenants’ rent changes in their Universal Credit journals in April.
That is because a fix promised by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as long ago as February last year will not be in place in time.
The DWP said the work “is presenting a number of unique challenges”.
Instead, the government is going to continue testing the new feature, which would allow landlords to upload rent change data on behalf of tenants in bulk, with “a small number of large” landlords.
It has also made tweaks to the system aimed at reducing the number of tenants’ information landlords need to individually verify.
Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, said the news was “extremely disappointing”.
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Grenfell witnesses will not have evidence used against them in any future prosecution
The attorney general has confirmed that individuals who give evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry will not have it used against them in any future criminal prosecution.
Suella Braverman has told the inquiry that “no oral evidence” from the public hearings will be used against a person “in any criminal proceedings”.
But the ruling does not cover corporate entities, meaning evidence given to the inquiry can still be used against companies in a future prosecution.
It also does not mean that individuals have been given immunity from prosecution, with the police investigation into the fire continuing.
The inquiry has been delayed until 2 March by the bid from corporate witnesses for evidence given to be exempt from future prosecutions.
Lunchtime long read
Picture: Martin Hunter
Scotland’s largest council is routinely breaking the law on homelessness, despite the country boasting some of the world’s most progressive legislation in the area. Inside Housing investigates what is going wrong.
Quote of the day
“The simple truism is that the higher the degree of alignment between the values of employees and those of the wider organisation, the greater the degree of staff engagement.”
Chan Kataria, chief executive of Emh Group, discusses the challenge for housing associations of attracting and retaining talented people.
In the papers
Picture: Getty
Two single mothers have won legal victories against letting agents refusing to offer rental homes to benefit claimants, intensifying the campaign against ‘no DSS’ landlords, the BBC reports.
The BBC also runs a story on an independent inquiry’s finding that the government must spend an extra £200bn if it wants to “level up” the UK’s regions.
Ahead of official rough sleeping statistics published today, The Guardian reports on Labour claims that the figures are “seriously misleading”, while also running a piece on “street buddies” who support people living outside.
Local news
Picture: Getty
In west London, the Richmond and Twickenham Times reports that Richmond Council has published a review into the relationship between housing associations and their residents in the borough calling for more to be done to help people shape services.
On the other side of the capital, a group of campaigners has launched a petition for the developers of a supermarket site to deliver at least 50% social housing, according to the Hackney Gazette.
And Worcester News carries an op-ed on the debate over housebuilding in the area.
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