Industry News
Outgoing PM defends her social housing record
homes after decades of home ownership dominating the political agenda. Speaking at the CIH annual conference Mrs May
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said social housing had been a “victim of the single- minded drive for homeownership” under successive governments. In a rare appearance before housing delegates,
the outgoing Prime Minister said: “First, we moved to increase the supply of affordable rental properties in order to meet the rising demand. “We’ve ended the forced sale of higher-value
council properties, put £2bn of extra funding into the Affordable Housing Programme with an explicit provision for building homes for social rent and abolished the HRA cap so that local authorities are free to build once more.” With just weeks left of her time in Downing
Street, Mrs May said the Government will publish an action plan and a timetable for its Social Housing Green Paper in September. She also said legislation to end ‘no-fault’ evictions will be brought in later this year. She told delegates: “If you rent a property,
it might not be your house but it is still your home. To me, that means that if you pay your rent, play by the rules and keep the house in good order, your landlord should not be allowed to throw you out on a whim. It is simply not fair.”
RECORD CRITICISED But the shadow housing secretary John Healey blasted Mrs May’s record on housing, saying she had delivered very little for her three years in Downing Street and describing her speech as “a little sad” He pointed to the huge rise in rough sleeping
and its impact on families with children, as well as a huge decline in the delivery of Government backed new social rent homes, which fell last year to just 961. “And when you reflect on those three years, her
ministers launched 99 housing consultations. Just consider that – 99 housing consultations yet so little
Events
National Landlord Investment Shows 8 October, Manchester 5 November, London
www.landlordinvestmentshow.co.uk
With just weeks left of her time in Downing Street, Mrs May said the Government will publish an action plan and a timetable for its Social Housing Green Paper in September. She also said legislation to end ‘no-fault’ evictions will be brought in later this year
action, so little legislation to follow. And even today as prime minister, she was still only able to promise change in the future on building standards and on social housing.” Healey claimed that if the Government had
continued to deliver new social rented homes at the same rate as Labour had in its last year in office, there would now be more than 180,000 extra units. Instead only 6,463 social rent homes were completed in 2017/18.
RESI Convention 11 - 13 September, Wales
www.resiconf.com
National Housing Summit 25 - 26 September, London
summit.housing.org.uk
6 | HMM August/September 2019 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk Many delegates questioned if her successor as
Prime Minister would be tied to the same policies that Mrs May outlined in her speech. When Housing Secretary James Brokenshire spoke at the Local Government Association annual conference a week later, his focus returned to initiatives for increasing the delivery of new homes, with an emphasis on planning reforms and the contribution of the private sector towards the 300,000 new homes target.
UK Construction Week 8 - 10 October, Birmingham
www.ukconstructionweek.com
Homes UK 27 - 28 November, London
www.homesevent.co.uk/home
heresa May has mounted a strong defence of her Government’s track record in delivering social housing policies and new
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