ROOF Blog

More tenants across the country will have a greater say over where they want to live and what housing options are available to them after John Healey announced over half a million pounds of extra funding to create more choice based lettings schemes across the country and expand several others already in place. The schemes offer tenants greater mobility, choice and flexibility when looking at their housing options enabling them to move across different local authority areas, for example if they were looking to move for a job opportunity. Since the programme began in 2005 more than £6.5m has been given to councils to work with housing associations to provide increased choice and mobility for thousands of new and existing social housing tenants

With the largest council housebuilding programme for nearly two decades already underway, housing minister John Healey has doubled government cash for new council homes. Mr Healey announced 73 councils covering every region of England will share an extra £122.6m. Councils will match this second round government grant bringing investment in this round to £246m, and total public investment in the programme as a whole to over £500m to build more than 4,000 new council homes for 8,000 people. In a clear break with council houses of the past, Mr Healey also confirmed that many will be new family homes, whilst all will be highly energy efficient and add to the mixed make-up of local neighbourhoods.

Housing and Planning Minister John Healey has proposed a more consumer-friendly green rating for homes that will promote energy efficient properties and reduce future utility bills by up to £1500 a year in the most energy efficient homes. The Code for Sustainable Homes was ratified in April 2007 as a standard to measure improvement in the overall sustainability of new homes. Mr Healey is proposing changes in the Code to make it easier for consumers, whether they are developers or individuals simply wanting to grade and track the sustainability of their properties. Mr Healey said: ‘Our homes account for a quarter of UK carbon emissions, so it’s clear they are a vital part of our efforts to tackle climate change. The Code has proved its worth but now is the time to make it a more user-friendly standard for consumers. In the future, this will help drive uptake so people will save more money on bills and reduce the carbon footprint of new homes.’