Lunchtime news June 21

The government will amend the law so that people leaving the armed services do not fail to get priority for social housing because they lack a local connection, housing minister Yvette Cooper said today.

At Harrogate, John Hills warned that social housing could end up ’warehousing the poor’ unless issues of inequality and worklessness were tackled too.

The CIH said it would consult its 16,000 members on the government’s proposals for Communities England but said it was on the right track.

Yvette Cooper promises more affordable new homes in the Mirror. The paper speculates that the spending review will see an extra £3bn for housing and 20,000 extra social rented homes a year.

The Olympics organisers may have to evict 36 residents and 13 travellers to make way for the games, reports The Times.

103 local authorities have opted for stock retention over transfer, almo and PFI, housing minister Yvette Cooper revealed in a written answer yesterday, while 148 have gone for transfer (with another 32 in development), 40 for almo (11) and 14 for a mix of options (6).