ROOF Blog

With Tony Blair’s departure from number 10 imminent, the Mirror reports that Gordon Brown will launch a new era of council house building when he takes over as prime minister.

HIPS come in for flak from a number of papers, including the Guardian, which all cover a critical House of Lords committee report claiming that the packs have been stripped of their original purpose and were opposed by the property industry.

Guardian Society profiles Shaun Bailey, former youth worker and Conservatives’ prospective parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith. ‘I’d love to be able to tell you about an offshore account, a mistress in the Bahamas, a powerboat and dodgy dealings. But I’m sorry, I haven’t done any of that. I’ve been living on an estate,’ he tells the paper.

Bill Bryson, the bestselling American author, is to become the new president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), replacing Sir Max Hastings.

The chief executive of Sunderland Arc, Tom Macartney, tells the Think conference, which ends today, that buy-to-let is jeopardising Britain’s city centres.

Latest data on the housing market from the Land Registry showed house prices rose by 1 per cent in March to stand 8.3 per cent higher than a year earlier, one of the highest annual rises in almost two years. The average price of a home in England and Wales is now £178,423.

Debbie Crew’s award winning campaign against abuses by private landlords continues to gather speed. More signatures are now being sought for an electronic petition to the prime minister to stop a Section 21 Notice being used by landlords to shirk their legal responsibilities.

Key workers can’t afford homes in seven out of ten UK towns, according to Halifax research reported in papers including The Independent.

The National Audit Office is investigating housing market renewal pathfinders to see if they offer value for money, reports Inside Housing.

A report for the Commission for Racial Equality says racial tension is greatest in areas of most housing need, says Inside Housing.

Boom or crash? The Independent debates the big question.

New research for the DCLG into loans for vulnerable home owners concludes there is room for expansion if more choices are developed.

Councils will be allowed to build and deliver their own housing under a plan to be put to the Labour party conference in the autumn, reports Inside Housing. The compromise plan follows conference defeats for the leadership on the fourth option.

The housing market is heading for a fall, according to research for the Telegraph that says homes are less affordable than at any time since the 1991 crash.

Also in the Telegraph, Roger Bootle analyses the difference between the US and UK markets and concludes a crash here is unlikely – so long as house prices keep rising. However, Bootle’s firm Capital Economics has predicted price falls before and been wrong.

Sunday’s Independent also analysed the chances of a US-style crash.

Financial advisors interviewed in Saturday’s Guardian are sceptical about the Nationwide’s 25-year fixed rate mortgage.

The DCLG has published new guidance [downloads PDF] for non-excellent authorities in England on supporting people and new grant conditions for 2007/08.

The Housing Corporation has published guidance on new legal powers for housing associations to tackle anti-social behaviour.

TENANTS IN GRAVESHAM have overwhelmingly rejected stock transfer. The result of a ballot announced today by the Kent authority shows 86% voted against a move to Thameside Housing Association with just 14% in favour on a 70% turnout. The council is set to decide what to do next at meetings over the next two weeks.

A CONTROVERSIAL NEW LAW in Scotland that could see people lose their homes over £3,001 worth of unsecured debt was passed in the Scottish Parliament yesterday after the executive ignored last-minute pleas from opposition MSPs and charities. Go here or here for more details.

The Bankruptcy & Diligence Etc (Scotland) Bill means creditors can apply for a land attachment order against people with more than £3,000 of unsecured debt. If the debt is not repaid within six months the home or land can be sold.

Campaigners said the law would force people into the hands of loan sharks and increase homelessness.

But the executive said it was fairer than existing legislation. It had compromised by increasing the limit from £1,500 but refused an amendment that would have exempted homes and promised the new law would be used sparingly with a review after two years.

CONSUMER PROBLEMS with housing debt rose 20% last year, according to Citizens Advice statistics published yesterday on people needing its help.

The charity dealt with 127,000 housing debt problems – including problems with mortgages, secured loans and rent arrears – in 2005/06. Nearly 10,000 of these were people threatened with repossession and 2,000 facing actual repossession or eviction. The rate of increase in housing debt problems was almost double the 11% increase in overall cases dealt with by its advice bureaux. They also dealt with 45% more cases of householders with council tax debt problems.

Chief executive David Harker said:

"We are particularly concerned by the sharp rise in enquiries from people getting behind with mortgage payments and having trouble paying council tax, gas and electricity bills, at a time when court action that can lead to repossession is on the increase, and fuel prices are rising steeply. This is likely to lead to more people than ever experiencing the sort of serious debt problems our advisers are already seeing day in day out.”

AN INVESTIGATION by Radio 5 yesterday stirred up fresh controversy about the targetting of government housing subsidies for key workers and the meaning of ‘affordable’.

Five Live Report said subsidised homes meant for key workers were going to bankers and accountants – and even someone working at Harrods. The investigation centred on one 112-home block at the Chelsea Bridge Wharf development in Battersea, London, and found 40 per cent of the homes had been sold to people who were not key workers.

Not the best Sunday morning listening for anyone at the Housing Corporation. However, the programme appears to have got confused.

According to the Corpie, 27 of the 112 homes were funded under the starter home initiative and 23 got other Corporation funding. These had a household income limit of £49,000 – just about ok for two teachers sharing a two-bed flat. Another 20 were for key workers with no grant but with a £60,000 income limit. The remaining 42 were sold under a 90 per cent share on the open market as part of the original section 106 deal between the developer and Wandsworth council.

Confused? Radio 5 seems to have been, as can be seen from the way it downgraded from its original publicity for the programme that key worker homes were being ‘mis-sold’ to a report later in the day that they are ‘under scrutiny’. This may have undermined its point about the key worker programme in particular but did it have a point about ‘affordable’ homes in general. Make up your own mind when it gets round to posting a ‘listen again’ link for the programme here.

Key workers probably will be confused too – by the number of different schemes involved in one block in one development and by what ‘affordable’ really means.

Homes at Chelsea Bridge Wharf are currently on sale at £545,000-£565,000.

A NORFOLK local authority is considering following the lead of the Yorkshire Dales and banning the building of new second homes. More than 40 per cent of homes in some towns and villages in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and the council says local shops and schools are being undermined.

The modest move is about as much as local authorities can do to control second home ownership until the government responds to the report of its Affordable Rural Housing Commission.

The west Norfolk ban ban would apply in areas of outstanding natural beauty and in villages where more than one in four of the homes is already a second home. Local estate agents – surely not! – have attacked the plan, arguing that it will not stop second homes, just inflate the price of homes without restrictions even more.

The Affordable Rural Housing Commission called in May for funding for 11,000 affordable new homes a year in rural areas plus consideration of a range of options to control second homes. These included a local impact tax and a new planning use class order that would mean anyone converting a home to a second home would need planning permission.

The government says the proposals are being fed into the comprehensive spending review and planning policy statements on housing and that it is planning a website on improving access to affordable homes.

A FORTUNATE 10,000 extra key workers will be helped on to the housing ladder under a deal announced today between the government and four mortgage lenders. The deal effectively doubles the Housing Corporation’s spending power under open market homebuy by offering public-private equity loans.

Housing minister Yvette Cooper told journalists at the launch of the scheme that a £150,000 mortgage for a key worker under the scheme would typically cost £700 month – as opposed to £950 in the open market. This is because the government and mortgage lenders will share a 25 per cent equity stake in the home, sharing in any rise (or fall) in the value. Go here for more information.#

The government remains convinvced that the long-term solution to housing affordability is to increase supply. In the meantime, those left behind by the housing boom will be wondering what will take off quicker: equity loans or house prices? See the next issue of ROOF for full analysis.

Half of all working households under 40 in the south of England cannot afford to buy even the cheapest home on offer, says a report today by the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The new Housing and Neighbourhoods Monitor measures the government’s performance against its targets.

The verdict? The quality of housing has got better. But repossessions have doubled since 2003, output of new affordable homes is half what it was ten years ago, and the number of homeless households in temporary accommodation has more than doubled since 1997.

Go here for the Today Programme report, which includes an interview with housing minister Yvette Cooper. Hear her call for more housebuilding, attack the Tories for opposing it and get interrogated about her boss’s alleged nimbyism.