Industry News News in brief
• A BBC report has disclosed that senior officers and housing staff at Kensington and Chelsea Council received bonuses of around £250,000 in the year following the Grenfell Tower fire, despite the fact 71 households from the estate are still waiting to be permanently rehoused almost two years on from the tragedy. Figures, obtained by the BBC via a freedom of information request, showed 12 employees in leadership roles at the council received a total of £93,174 in bonuses in May or June of 2018 - an average payment of £7,765 per employee. In addition, 52 members of staff working in housing received £131,804 in bonuses, an average of £2,534 per employee. The council did not say whether there was an overlap between the total figures for bonuses paid to leaders and housing staff. A survivors' group called the payments "abhorrent" since some households still do not have permanent homes. The fire in north Kensington on 14 June 2017 killed 72 people. A council spokesman said: "No-one got a bonus specifically for helping respond to the fire."
• People receiving housing benefit will no longer be barred from renting properties advertised on one of the UK's largest listing sites. Zoopla has said it will stop landlords posting "No DSS" in advertisements for letting properties. (DSS is a widely-used acronym for the Department of Social Security, which has been superceded by the Department for Work and Pensions.) In an investigation carried out last year, the National Housing Federation and Shelter found that one in 10 letting agents refused to let to tenants who relied upon benefits. The BBC found the policy was enforced even if tenants could afford the rent. Almost 900,000 people in England receive housing benefit to help pay their rent. According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government around half of landlords would not be willing to let to them.
• Clarion Housing Group, the country’s largest housing association has revealed that fire safety work has cost it around £20 million in 2018/19. The figures were given in a presentation by Dan Hollas, project director for fire safety at Clarion, at a conference organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing. They include around £12.8m on passive fire protection including door installations, compartmentation work and fire-stopping work, and almost £4.5m on active fire protection like the installation of alarm systems.
L&Q set to build 20,000 new homes in the North West
neighbourhoods in the North West of England through the takeover of Manchester based Trafford Housing Trust. L&Q sees THT as a gateway to the North West
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and a key to delivering on its plans to build 100,000 new homes over the next 10 years to tackle the country’s under-supply of housing. The Government has a target of building 300,000 new homes a year, well above the current delivery of 180,000 per annum. L&Q and Trafford Housing Trust (with 90,000
and 9,000 homes respectively) announced in early April they were in talks for THT to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of L&Q. The deal is due to complete in June 2019, subject to due diligence, customer consultation and the development of a five-year business plan. The acquisition of THT will build on an existing
joint venture partnership that has already seen 679 housing starts with a further 1,493 in the pipeline since it was launched in April 2017. The new agreement will unlock £4 billion of investment in the North West by combining the capabilities and resources of the two HAs. At least half of the 20,000 new homes will be affordable.
MAJOR REINVESTMENT PLANS Around £2 million will be put aside to improve the standard of THT’s existing homes, as they come up for re-let, in-line with L&Q’s Home Standard. This includes modernising, re-painting and fitting carpets. This is part of L&Q’s £225 million annual investment in existing homes.
iant social landlord L&Q has announced ambitious plans to invest £4bn to create 20,000 new homes and
L&Q sees THT as a gateway to the North West and a key to delivering on its plans to build 100,000 new homes over the next 10 years to tackle the country’s under- supply of housing
There will be savings by removing duplication
and increasing efficiencies, but the HAs say the acquisition is focused on investment and growth and there will not be any compulsory redundancies as a direct result of the acquisition. Commenting on the announcement, L&Q Group
Chief Executive David Montague said: “L&Q has an ambitious plan to build 100,000 quality new homes over the next 10 years to tackle the national housing crisis. We are excited by the opportunity to invest in the North West with a partner that shares our social purpose, values and ambition, has excellent local knowledge and a strong reputation for innovation and delivery.” Larry Gold, Acting Chief Executive of THT,
added: “This is a unique creation that will be built on true partnership and the strength of our vision, and the people who will deliver it. As part of L&Q, we’ll create significant social impact in the North West at scale and pace and strive to find solutions to the national housing crisis. We will deliver an extensive programme of new development and regeneration projects, as well as improving homes and services for our existing customers.”
Fixed-term tenancies have had their day
A growing number of housing associations are scrapping their use of fixed term tenancies in a rejection of the policy, first brought in by the Coalition Government as David Cameron sought to change the role and purpose of social housing. Giant social landlord L&Q was the first HA to
announce they were dropping this form of tenancy, designed to limit tenancies to five or ten years. Tenants’ circumstances were then to be reviewed to assess whether they still needed assistance with their housing. L&Q had also announced it was converting all
existing fixed term tenancies to periodic or lifetime assured tenancies. They have since been followed by other giants of the HA sector, Peabody and Sanctuary. Others like Optivo and the Thirteen Group are following suit, while many others have
18 | HMM April/May 2019 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
announced they are formally undertaking reviews. The chief objection to their use was that no
matter how much landlords sought to reassure their tenants, the fixed term nature of the tenancy made their homes feel temporary and devoid of security, so they could not put down roots leaving them unsettled.
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