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Opinion
Don’t blame us
01 January 2024
Licensing private landlords is intended to ease abandonment and lawlessness in the UK’s most unpopular areas. But these are huge and complex problems, and banning a few dodgy landlords won’t solve them, says Geoffrey Cutting
On the move
01 January 2024
Colin Jones disputes the theory that offering council tenants the chance to own their homes encourages balanced communities
Homeless families face break-up
01 January 2024
Homeless children risk separation from their families following recent interpretations of the Children Act, warns Russell Campbell
Will accomodation centres for asylum seekers be better than dispersal?
01 January 2024
Asylum seekers 'dispersed' to unpopular estates have suffered racist attacks. Some private housing leased by the government for potential refugees has proved expensive and substandard. Are plans to replace all this with 'accommodation centres' the solution?
More homes please
01 January 2024
The key to easing homelessness is actually quite simple: build more homes, But radical changes to the planning system are required, says Lord Best
On the edge
01 November 2023
Seven days…to find a house and organise housing benefit. Asylum seekers are specifically excluded from mainstream housing and welfare, with ‘genuine’ refugees given just a week to find and pay for suitable accommodation. The system is bound to discourage proper integration, says Deborah Garvie
Falling through the net
01 November 2023
Support services for the disabled, ex-offenders, alcoholics and other vulnerable people are to undergo radical changes. The move is welcome, but Clare Tickell warns there could be casualties
Cheap at the price
01 November 2023
Joined up thinking, helping people off benefits into work and tenant empowerment are key government policies. But rent restructuring ignores these goals in favour of financial objectives, says Bernard Crofton
Legal eye: action stations on homelessness
01 November 2023
Local authorities will have to draw up a strategy to prevent people losing their homes under the Homelessness Bill. Russell Campbell welcomes the new regime and outlines its practical implications
Backdoor Sep 2001
01 September 2023
So what’s gone wrong for young British Asians in the ‘multi-cultural UK’? Why not ask them, says Inderjeet Nijhar, who took part in uprisings in Southall in the 1980s
Same old question
01 September 2023
Scotland’s falling share of UK public funds, and new spending pledges on education and the elderly, mean housing is missing out. James Mitchell says it’s time to scrap the Barnett formula and allow Scotland to raise – and spend – its own funds
Choice: premature celebrations
01 September 2023
If you believed the hype about choice-based lettings, then prepare to be disappointed. Offering more choice to new and existing tenants is a good thing, but it won’t deliver more social rented homes or regenerate rundown areas. Matthew Waters explains
All together now
01 September 2023
The transformation of Scottish Homes from an unaccountable quango into an executive agency responsible for inspecting all social housing north of the border should be a good thing. But will it work? Marion Gibbs asks whether it will be up to the task
