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7 Apr 14
The chancellor had little to offer providers of social housing in the Budget. But smarter procurement practices can help avoid the need for damaging cutbacks
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4 Apr 14
MPs have today launched an inquiry into the effectiveness of the government’s planning reforms amid concerns that some councils are engaging in poor practice to meet Whitehall targets.
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28 Mar 14
Housing minister Kris Hopkins today awarded a £8.7m grant to support construction of 190 homes across six parts of the country under the government’s Build to Rent scheme
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24 Mar 14
The government agency announced by George Osborne to lead the creation of a garden city at Ebbsfleet in Kent must be given a ‘blank sheet of paper’ free from council planning agreements, the chair of...
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17 Mar 14
A new garden city in Kent is to be developed as part of a £6.2bn plan to boost housebuilding, set to be announced in this week’s Budget.
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5 Mar 14
It is not yet possible to say whether the government’s Help to Buy equity loans, designed to improve access to mortgage finance, will provide taxpayers with value for money, the National Audit Office...
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21 Feb 14
Councils should follow Whitehall’s lead and release more unused land for development, housing minister Kris Hopkins has urged.
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4 Feb 14
A government review of social housing should give councils greater financial freedoms to boost development, the National Federation of Almos has said today
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3 Feb 14
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today appealed to the UK government to lift the cap on discretionary housing payments after the Scottish Government found what it believes is the money needed to...
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3 Feb 14
The government should set up an agency to regulate property purchases by non-UK residents, a think-tank has proposed
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3 Feb 14
Just as growth returns, a new housing crisis is edging its way up the political agenda. So can Sir Michael Lyons put some flesh on Labour’s plans for a mass housebuilding programme that will help get...
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30 Jan 14
A review of social housing supply will consider how well councils are using their new freedoms under Housing Revenue Account reforms
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28 Jan 14
All parties promise much, but deliver little, on housing. In the run-up to 2015 they must take a long view of the 'hard choices' needed to address the issue
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27 Jan 14
Housing minister Kris Hopkins today set out a plan to support the construction of 165,000 homes over three years under the Homes and Communities Agency’s Affordable Homes Programme
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13 Jan 14
More than one-third of the council homes sold in London under the right-to-buy programme are now being let out by private landlords, figures compiled by Labour have indicated
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6 Jan 14
Councils should make better use of existing powers to tackle poor housing standards in the private-rented sector, the IPPR North think-tank said today
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2 Jan 14
Local government secretary Eric Pickles has published guidance calling on town halls to prioritise the allocation of council houses to local people.
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2 Jan 14
Home loans worth nearly £1bn have been backed by the government’s Help to Buy mortgage scheme in its first three months, Prime Minister David Cameron said today
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16 Dec 13
A committee of MPs has called on the government to scrap the so-called bedroom tax after finding that the reform had placed a ‘cruel burden’ on vulnerable people.
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16 Dec 13
Ed Miliband today hit out at some councils for blocking development in neighbouring authorities, and pledged that a future Labour government would give town halls a ‘right to grow’.
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11 Dec 13
Council raids on housing revenue accounts should stop with the closure of a 'legal loophole'. The name of the game now is self-regulation
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10 Dec 13
Soaring rents are forcing more working people to rely on Housing Benefit, with the number of employed claimants more than doubling since 2009, the National Housing Federation has warned.
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9 Dec 13
London Councils has slammed the £70m cut to the capital’s New Homes Bonus allocation and called for the move to be overturned.
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6 Dec 13
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has confirmed that the government will meet the costs of the business rate reliefs set out in the Autumn Statement.
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5 Dec 13
Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the cap limiting the amount councils can borrow to build new homes will be increased by £300m, with the allocation to be distributed through local...