ROOF Blog

Communities secretary Hazel Blears today unveiled a plan to get young people from some of the nation’s most deprived areas involved in activities aimed at raising aspirations, and breaking the cycle of deprivation. The government is creating a network of 15 ‘inspiring communities’ where parents, schools, businesses, third sector organisations and local agencies will work together and design solutions to the particular barriers they face.

The government has confirmed its commitment that social homes are to be built to ‘lifetime homes standards’ by 2011, and all new build homes will meet the standard by 2013. The standards are a set of design features that ensure homes can be easily adapted as its occupants become older and less mobile. House builders had warned that the additional requirements were likely to reduce affordability. However, communities minister Baroness Andrews said she was ‘not persuaded’ that the plans needed to be watered down because of the decline in house building.

Three UK buildings have made it on to a list of the world’s 10 ugliest buildings. The most unattractive building in the UK is the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool in fourth place on the list, followed by the Scottish parliament building in eighth place, and finally the central lending library in Birmingham at ninth. No other country boasts as many buildings on the list as the UK.

More than a third of houses in England still fail to meet the decent homes standards according to the government’s own figures. Research from 2006, containing the latest data, show there were 7.7 million homes that did not meet the standard - or 35 per cent of the total. In the private rented sector nearly half of all homes were non-decent, whereas homes owned by housing associations were the most likely to be decent with only 12.8 per cent failing. The figures are worse than the 2005 survey. The government has set a target that all dwellings should meet the decent homes standard by 2010.

Bank of England governor Mervyn King ruled out an extension to the special liquidity scheme and warned the government not to try to offset the mortgage lending drought by bankrolling the market. He said any public sector funding would ‘severely undermine’ attempts by banks to balance their books. Speaking at a Treasury select committee he added that the UK faced a ‘difficult, but temporary period’ where inflation will remain high and growth weak.

Caroline Flint has announced a £200,000 initiative to encourage homeless charities to employ former rough sleepers. The government hopes to encourage around 800 people to find work in the sector during the coming two years. Focusing on the 46 largest homeless organisations initially before moving to smaller charities, the money will be used to set up training course in areas such as IT, finance and client counselling.

The latest figures for statutory homelessness came out yesterday. In the second quarter of 2008 a total of 22,170 households were found to be homeless, of which 15,690 households were accepted as homeless and in priority need in the second quarter of 2008. This is 1.6 per cent higher than the previous quarter, but 1.8 per cent lower than in the same period the previous year. Overall the number of households accepted as homeless by local authorities in England has been decreasing since the fourth quarter of 2004.

Houses in the UK are the most cramped in Europe. The curator of the British pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale who made the claims added the cause for why the quality was falling is that England and Wales are the only parts of Europe where house building is unregulated by a minimum space standard. Floor space is on average almost a quarter smaller than in Denmark which has the most spacious living accommodation. London mayor Boris Johnson is introducing a minimum standard on all publicly funded housing in London in November. However, house builders have warned that introducing standards would increase costs and slow down house building.

The future of eco-towns is in jeopardy after a judge ruled the programme should be brought before the High Court. The judgment follows an application by the lobby group BARD (better accessible responsible development). It claims the eco-town programme is unlawful because the public was not consulted properly about the ‘location and principle’ of eco-towns. If the claim is successful the Government may have to start again with proper consultation.

Home information packs are back in the news as the government changes the length of validity of a key part of the package – the energy performance certificate. Originally planned to be valid for one year, the government announced that it would now be valid for three years. It is believed the government is worried that as the housing market slows down to a near standstill homeowners may need to outlay for two or three certificates if the house remains stuck on the market.

Homeownership in England fell for the second year in a row last year, to its lowest level since 1998. The number of owner-occupiers dropped by 83,000 to 14.54 million, bringing the rate of owner-occupation down to 69.8 per cent, from 70.3 per cent. The main reason for the drop was put down to high prices driving buyers out of the market. Whilst the number of people owning their own homes outright rose by 1.3 per cent, this was outweighed by a rise in the number of people buying a home with a mortgage.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has warned that hundreds of thousands of homes could be uninsurable and uninhabitable unless stricter planning controls are introduced. They estimate that a third of the three million new homes the government wants to build by 2020 will be located on flood plains. Already 13 major developments have been passed despite the Environment Agency providing advice showing a flood risk. ABI have said that where a local authority plans to ignore flood risk advice, the government should step in and review the proposals and be ‘compelled to publish its decision’. Since the 2007 floods in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, insurers have paid out £1 billion in claims, and expect it will cost then more than £3 billion overall.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced it will clamp down on nearly 70 mortgage brokers after suspecting them of fraudulent mortgage applications. The FSA’s head of fraud said the problem was bigger and more widespread than previously thought, and said it was particularly rife among new-build property developments. Around half the 70 cases involve organised rings of professional fraudsters including solicitors and surveyors, with the rest made up of brokers who had fiddled figures to secure bigger loans for their clients.

This news comes on the heels of warnings from the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) that new-build property developers are over inflating the price of properties aimed at first-time buyers, but offering discounts and other incentives to get them to sign up. CML and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors are planning to work together to make disclosure of incentives and discounts compulsory.

Bradford & Bingley, one of the biggest lenders in the country, announced huge losses yesterday when its profits were almost halved to £126 million as a result in the worldwide credit crunch and a dramatic rise of 74 per cent in repossessions since 2006. The news sent their share price tumbling 23 per cent to its lowest ever level. Management said they have introduced measures to make sure the bank don’t run out of money like Northern Rock.

The department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is in a spot of bother after confusing Newcastle-under-Lyme with Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Over the past two years the Staffordshire market town with a population of 74,000 has received government regeneration handouts worth £2.7 million, that was meant for the Tyne town and its population of more than a quarter of a million. Since spotting the error, CLG has asked for the money back, which Newcastle-under-Lyme is refusing to return. Council leaders said they have already earmarked the money for regeneration projects and thought the amount was in recognition of the excellent work they have already done.

Yesterday, governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, forecast inflation to rise to above three per cent in coming months as a result of increases in the cost of food, fuel and household energy bills. Mr King has recently been hinting that if inflation climbed higher than the bank’s two per cent target, aggressive interest rate cuts would be off the agenda, even if it meant a sharp downturn in the economy. Mr King said it was the outlook for inflation in the medium term in which the Bank’s monetary policy committee would remain focused on.

And finally, from the Daily Mail’s Ideal Home Show of 1956, comes the house of the future. Thankfully though, not all the fixtures and fittings took off. Designed by radical architects of the time, Alison and Peter Smithson, we had to look forward to a future of nylon clothing and nylon bedsheets; showers that would wash and blow dry users; having no need for a refrigerator as gamma rays would blast meat and fish free of germs; and soft furnishings that were for wimps, as we relaxed on polyester reinforced glass chairs. Not all predictions were so off the mark – remote controls, microwave ovens, entry phones, dimmer switches and heated flooring was also suggested as being essential to our future lives.

Almost a million children are trapped in overcrowded housing, according to a new campaign launched by Shelter today. The total has risen 50,000 to 955,000 in the last three years. The campaign includes a new video and a call to email communities secretary Ruth Kelly to update the current overcrowding standard.

Sarah Webb will be the new chief executive of the CIH. Previously deputy chief executive of the CIH and head of the ODPM’s community housing task force, she will take over from David Butler. She was quickly into action yesterday in support of home information packs - because they benefit first-time buyers.

Gordon Brown and his ally Yvette Cooper are planning to make support for house building a significant dividing line between Labour and the Conservatives, reports Inside Housing.

A vote in the European Parliament could clear the way for releasing billions of pounds worth of structural funds for housing, reports Inside Housing.

The minimum wage and tax credits have failed to cut the income inequality Labour inherited from the Conservatives, according to new statistics reported in the Guardian.

The Financial Services Authority has issued a warning about the buy to let market, with borrowers losing money and lenders not knowing the true quality of their loan books, reports the Financial Times.

Housing starts in England fell 6% in 2006/07 to 173,400 after rising for the previous five years, according to the DCLG. Completions rose 3%.

Inner city regneration won’t be enough to solve the housing crisis, says NHF chief executive David Orr in a Guardian response to Simon Jenkins earlier this week.