The Housing Podcast: why are people on benefits struggling to pay the rent?

The leaseholders stuck in buildings with Grenfell-style cladding

There are almost 300 private buildings around the country with Grenfell-style aluminium cladding, including 205 residential blocks.

Leaseholders face fears over fire and, in many cases, crippling bills to fund its removal.

This week the Housing Podcast visits two of these sites to ask what happens next.

What would a no deal Brexit mean for housing?

What would the consequences be the UK's housing sector if Britain left the EU without a deal? The Housing Podcast team is joined by Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, John Perry, policy advisor at the Chartered Institute of Housing and property journalist Rhiannon Curry to ask what it would all mean.

Theresa May scraps the cap, what does it mean?

To the delight of councils across the country, Theresa May announced this week that she will scrap the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap.
With the help of Eamon McGoldrick of the National Federation of ALMOs, in this week’s episode of The Housing Podcast we discuss the history of this contentious area of housing policy and look at what happens now.

Is Sadiq Khan delivering on housing?

After an attack in this week's Evening Standard, The Housing Podcast team catches up with deputy mayor James Murray and Conservative housing spokesperson Andrew Boff to assess London mayor Sadiq Khan's record on housing.

The true cost of homelessness

Inside Housing has conducted in-depth research into the amount councils are spending on temporary accommodation for homeless people, with shocking results. In this episode of The Housing Podcast, we take a look at the financial aspect of homelessness and discuss the figures with Matt Downie, director of policy and external affairs at Crisis.

Rating the Social Housing Green Paper

The Housing Podcast team is joined by David Pipe from the Chartered Institute of Housing and housing columnist Jules Birch to rank the proposals in the Social Housing Green Paper out of 10. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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The supported housing saga

The government's announcement this week that it will drop plans to change the way supported housing is funded brings to a close a near three year cycle of lobbying against these proposals.

This week, the Housing Podcast looks back at this story, which began with a throwaway line in George Osborne's Autumn Statement in 2015.

Edited by Luke Barratt.

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A brief history of council housing

In this week’s episode of The Housing Podcast we speak to John Boughton, social historian and author of Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing, about the five phases of local authority housing – starting in the East End of London in 1900.

Was Dispatches fair to housing associations?

The Housing Podcast team is joined by Tom Murtha to discuss the controversial Dispatches documentary on housing associations titled Getting Rich From the Housing Crisis.
Tom appeared on the programme, but felt it misrepresented his views. The team also hears views from Brian Robson of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Curo boss Victor da Cunha about the documentary. Edited by Peter Apps.

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Who has been the best housing minister since 2010?

The Housing Podcast team get together to rank all of the housing ministers of the modern Tory era, from Shapps to Raab. There's a lot of them. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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Should the Freedom of Information Act be extended to housing associations?

Rob Beiley, a partner at Trowers and Hamlins, and Maurice Frankel from the Campaign for Freedom of Information debate whether the Freedom of Information Act should be extended to cover housing associations. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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The Hackitt Review

This week, Dame Judith Hackitt released the findings of her building regulations review, commissioned by the government in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire last June.

Featuring an interview with Dame Judith, the team takes a look at what was in the report – and why some people were less than impressed. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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The rise and partial fall of the Right to Buy extension

Inside Housing's editor-in-chief Emma Maier joins the Housing Podcast team to look back at the rise and partial fall of plans to extend Right to Buy discounts to 1.3 million housing association tenants, first announced by David Cameron in 2015. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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Is immigration the cause of the housing crisis?

The Housing Podcast team is joined by Jonathan Portes, the former chief economist at the Cabinet Office, to discuss housing minister Dominic Raab’s claim that immigration has pushed up house prices.

The episode also features an interview with senior staff at Arhag, a specialist housing association which supports new migrants. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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Right to Buy or Wrong to Buy?

London Labour assembly member Tom Copley takes on Conservative councillor John Moss to debate one of housing's most divisive policies: the Right to Buy. Edited by Luke Barratt.

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Building regulations: the paper trail

Inside Housing presents ‘the paper trail’. We go over building regulation changes covering decades to see how so many tower blocks around the country ended up with dangerous cladding.

We ask: was the cladding on Grenfell Tower legal? How did the regulations change to allow combustible materials? And what warnings were missed along the way? Edited by Luke Barratt.

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