London’s turning – Towards a sustainable private rented sector under the new Mayor
Today Generation Rent publishes ‘London’s Turning: Towards a sustainable private rented sector under the new Mayor’, our call on Sadiq Khan to act rapidly and boldly in his response to the capital’s housing crisis.
London Housing – a new opportunity to push for greater security
Delayed from August, this week saw the publication of the London Mayor’s draft housing strategy, which is now open for consultation for three months.
Covering all housing policy from leasehold reform to tackling street homelessness, the strategy also has a specific section devoted to the private rented sector. With a quarter of London’s children in the private rented sector, and millions of renters living in poverty, we all know how urgently action is needed.
We’ll be coming back to parts of the strategy in the coming weeks, but here we just focus on the main headlines for renters.
The strategy builds on the Mayor’s manifest commitment and previous public statements, and although the Mayor lacks the powers to fundamentally transform London’s PRS, there are nonetheless some steps forward and potential to go further.
Amazing job opportunity at the National CLT Network
We want to tell you about an amazing job opportunity for a Programme Manager that has just come up over at our friends, the National Community Land Trust Network.
How the next Mayor of London can start fixing the housing crisis
As the major parties choose their mayoral candidates for the 2016 London elections, today Generation Rent publishes a manifesto for London that that sets out a programme that any Mayor who is serious about the private rented sector should adopt. Whoever wins in May will have to be robust in demanding new powers to regulate the sector, so it’s vital that politicians understand how hard private renters are being squeezed in the capital. Today renters can call on them to commit to solving the London housing crisis.
Criminal landlord database shows what protections we still need
Environmental Health News (EHN) has done us all a huge service by publishing a list of landlords with convictions for housing offences.
For the first time we know the 2,006 companies and individuals who have been successfully prosecuted, but this figure is dwarfed by the 740,000 private rented households estimated to have hazards dangerous to human health. And the landlords in question get away with fines that hardly make a dent on the income they get from rents.
This has to stop.
Ending fuel poverty for private renters – where we are and where we need to go
Yesterday the Department for Energy and Climate Change finally laid down regulations arising from the 2013 Energy Act which seek to drive up energy efficiency in the private rented sector and bring down fuel poverty as a result.
The Cost of a First Time Home keeps rising
The latest House Price Index was released today and once again shows how first time buyers are being screwed over by the market.
House price inflation was up over this time last year, by 8.4%, although it was slightly down from last month (by a tiny 0.2%). One of the real worries is that for first time buyers, prices were 9.7% higher on average this January compared to last January – and 0.7% up on the month.
Wales passes a new Rented Homes Act
The Renting Homes Act for Wales passed through the Assembly at the end of 2015, but the end result was quite different from the initial Bill.
The Welsh Assembly has 60 Assembly Members (AMs) but the Welsh Labour Government only holds 30 of those seats. That means that every Bill has to have approval from one of the opposition parties – Plaid or the Lib Dems- or it won’t go through.
The reality of Labour’s housing policy
Labour has carefully crafted an identity this election as the party of housing. But if you look at the details, what they’re proposing is terrifying for the average person.
By Lindsey Garrett of the New Era Estate
A new look for Parliament
Here’s an idea that will save taxpayers money, help build houses in London and give a disadvantaged northern economy a welcome boost.
Move Parliament to Hull and convert the empty buildings into flats.
