Win £10k to set up a Community Land Trust
Would you like to take control of your area and create permanently affordable homes?
The Community Land Trust Network, supported by the Oak Foundation, is offering 20 grants of up to £10,000 each to support the set up or development of new CLTs in urban areas. CLTs are volunteer-led, community-run non-profit organisations that develop permanently affordable homes, workspaces or other land-based assets in their area. In addition to the cash grant, the CLT Network is also offering a package of training, advice and other support to the 20 winners.
The deadline for entering the competition is 7th September. Check out the Urban CLT project webpage for more information. And if you’re on twitter, why not follow @community_land too 🙂
Alex
What to do about letting agents…
Yesterday I was asked a surprisingly difficult question. I was asked what I thought of charities and local authorities setting up “ethical” letting agencies. The fact is I haven’t given huge amounts of thought to it – though our office is maintaining a watching brief on their activities and seeing what can be learnt.
So I had to retreat to an instinctive (and unpopular) no. It seems inconceivably that the state or non-profit sector could or should compete in this space cost effectively. We’re glad they do so as they are a rare respite for people who are routinely exploited, but on being scrutinised on the issue, I just couldn’t see how they could be scaled to have a beneficial impact for millions of people.
I have had a think now, and while I did so fully prepared to explain why I had been wrong and have changed my mind, I haven’t. I really don’t think such projects are a solution to the letting agency problem. But as a representative of a tenant advocacy group, this does bear some explaining.
Go West – they license landlords there
Wales moved a step closer to comprehensive landlord and letting agent licensing this week as the Welsh Assembly voted to approve the final text of the Housing (Wales) Bill.
One more chance to ban letting fees
CLICK HERE TO WRITE TO VINCE CABLE. HE CAN BAN LETTING AGENT FEES NEXT WEEK
The issue of lettings agent fees is back in parliament next week with an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill that would make it an offence to charge fees to tenants.
Stamp Duty reform, but nothing for renters
George Osborne’s final Autumn Statement before the General Election has been trailed across the media since Sunday, including announcements about housebuilding as part of the National Infrastructure Plan. A lot of this – including the garden city in Bicester – is fairly old news, but it’s interesting that the government is planning to get directly involved in building houses – 10,000 of them just outside Cambridge.
The Treasury might want to use this as an opportunity to try out Generation Rent’s proposed model of a bubble-free housing market – we estimate that it would cost £1bn to build 10,000 homes, sell them at little over cost-price and plough the proceeds into another 10,000 home project. Those new houses would be shielded from any above-inflation price rises.
When it came to the Statement itself, earlier this afternoon, Osborne had very little to offer those who want cheaper housing. His big announcement, which is bound to dominate tomorrow’s front pages, was the reform of stamp duty.
Getting on the housing ladder is murder
Melsonby sub-postmistress Diana Garbutt was found dead in her home in March 2010. Her husband Robin was arrested three weeks later and was subsequently found guilty of her murder.
Unoccupied since the crime, the only shop in the North Yorkshire village, along with its attached living quarters, has now been sold on at a knock down price.
Get your MP to back renters
It was announced on Thursday that the House of Commons will be debating the Private Renting Sector next Wednesday 25th June from about 12.30-5pm.
There are over 9 million private renters in Britain increasingly getting a rough deal from landlords and letting agents. We’d like you write to your MP asking them to back our renters’ manifesto to create a fair and sustainable rental market for both tenants and landlords.
We’re also calling for a secondary, bubble-free housing market for those people who just want to buy or rent a home for a reasonable cost rather than an investment at a high cost.
Click here to contact your MP now!
Many thanks,
Alex
No light at the end of the tunnel for the Housing Pinched
Today was marked by the signing of a new contract at work. As well as being my first contract for a long time without a specified end date, it brings with it the promise of a modest, but extremely welcome increase in salary. Welcome since over the last five years I have noted that the combination of taking care of a family, paying for an appropriately sized privately rented house, whilst commuting by train to work has meant that the money I’ve had available after all the bills have been paid, has been shrinking year on year.
It seems I’m not the only one and indeed my situation has been much more comfortable than that of others. The Resolution Foundation recently published research which shines the spotlight on that sector of the UK population who spend over half of their disposable income on ongoing housing costs: the so-called ‘housing pinched’. Their findings are significant and depressing. Data relating to 2011-12 shows that 1.6 million households were ‘housing pinched’. Of those just under 1 million households (that’s 2.2 million people) were in work. To put this into perspective, in 2012 the Resolution Foundation reports that the average household spent £60 on each of the following: food, non-alcoholic drinks, transport, recreation & leisure. The ‚Äòhousing pinched’ on average had £60 a week left for absolutely everything.
Long overdue: Time to improve electrical safety for renters
Generation Rent was very happy to attend the launch of a new report on electrical safety in the private rented sector last week, entitled ‚ÄòHome Improvement: Tackling Poor Electrical Safety in the Private Rented Sector’.
A chance to protect tenants
Raising two young sons on her own, Venice Allan did not need extra worries about her housing situation.
“The flat we were in was in the basement and it was damp. After a few months black mould started to appear on the walls. That was bad enough for my sons’ health but then we discovered a live wire that needed fixing.