Copy

ARCH Bulletin. Issue 191 - July 2022.

In this issue 

Boris Johnson resigns as Conservative Leader; Greg Clark replaces Michael Gove
The rising cost of living and 2023 rent increase
ARCH at the CIH Conference: Manchester 2022
ARCH Tenants’ Conference
Consultation on arrangements for Emergency Evacuation from high rise buildings
Consultation: Homelessness Prevention Grant 2023/24
Call for evidence: Short-term Tourist Accommodation
Building Safety Act leaseholder protections come into force
LGA launches Social Housing Management Peer Challenge
Homes England Housebuilding Statistics 2021-22
Boris Johnson resigns as Conservative Leader; Greg Clark replaces Michael Gove
 
 Boris Johnson resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 7 July. He wants to continue as Prime Minister until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, probably in September, and has appointed a new Cabinet, replacing Michael Gove as Levelling Up Secretary with Greg Clark. He has also appointed Paul Scully and Marcus Jones as junior DLUHC Ministers, although it is not yet clear what roles they will play. Some Conservative MPs would prefer Johnson to give way immediately to an interim Prime Minister, probably his deputy Dominic Raab, and may take action intended to achieve this. Opposition parties may call a vote of no confidence. Johnson has said he will not seek to make any major policy changes before a new Prime Minister is chosen, but it is not clear what this may imply for recent policy announcements affecting housing. The most likely outcome is delay, at least until after the summer recess. Read more
 
The rising cost of living and 2023 rent increase

ARCH, together with the National Federation of ALMOs and Councils with ALMOs Group, has written to DLUHC to express concern about the impact of the sharp increase in the cost of living on tenants’ budgets and the dilemma facing councils in deciding on 2023 rent increases. With the Consumer Price Index expected to show inflation over 10 per cent by October, councils would, in theory, be expected to raise rents by more than 11 per cent next April. 

This would impose an impossible burden on many tenants, yet failure to increase rents by this amount may leave councils unable to meet the full cost of essential works to ensure the safety and decency of tenants’ homes and continue to improve their energy efficiency to help reduce fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions. The letter asks for an urgent discussion on the problem and potential responses. Read more
 

ARCH at the CIH Conference: Manchester 2022

ARCH was strongly represented at the CIH Conference in Manchester from 28-30 June, with delegates from many member authorities participating. ARCH CEO Paul Price joined representatives from CIH, DLUHC and the National Housing Federation on the platform for a keynote session of future challenges to the social housing sector. Read more

TOP

ARCH Tenants' Conference

The ARCH Tenants’ Conference is returning and will be held in Stevenage on 15 September. Plans are firming up and include two ARCH Community Champion Awards. More information, including booking details and how to nominate for the Community Champions awards are available here.

Consultation on arrangements for Emergency Evacuation from high rise buildings

Having abandoned proposals for Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans as recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Home Office is now consulting on more limited proposals for Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing (EEIS).

The consultation runs until 10 August. ARCH will be submitting a response to the consultation and would welcome views from member authorities and tenants on the new proposals. Read more

Consultation: Homelessness Prevention Grant 2023/24

On 1 July 2022 DLUHC launched a consultation seeking views from interested stakeholders on a review of funding arrangements and conditions for the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2023/24 onwards. Funding allocations will be finalised and announced later this year. The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 26 August 2022. Read more

Call for evidence: Short-term Tourist Accommodation

On 28 June the Government announced an open call for evidence aiming to understand the impact of increase in short-term holiday lets in England following the rise in use of rental booking websites and apps. Air B&B listings in the UK rose by 33 per cent between 2017 and 2018. The call for evidence links to a consultation paper headed Developing a Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme. The consultation runs until 21 September 2022.The government then intends to consult on specific policy options later in 2022. Read more

Building Safety Act leaseholder protections come into force

The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force on 28 June. This means qualifying leaseholders in England can no longer be charged for cladding remediation, and there are legal protections in place for non-cladding costs. Read more

LGA launches Social Housing Management Peer Challenge

The LGA has launched a new Social Housing Management Peer Challenge. It has been developed to help stock-holding councils improve their management of social housing to ensure they meet the expectations of the new regulatory regime proposed in the social housing white paper and being put into place through the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill currently before Parliament. Read more

Homes England Housebuilding Statistics 2021-22

Homes England has announced statistics for homes started and completed under its various programmes in 2021-22. These do not include London which is the responsibility of the GLA. Housing programmes delivered by Homes England resulted in 38,436 new houses starting on-site and 37,164 houses completed between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, as the sector began to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Proportion of affordable homes started and completed was up on the previous year.
  • Increase in both starts and completions a result of a recovery in housebuilding activity following the slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • The number of homes for social rent started and completed remains low.

 Read more
Copyright © 2022 Association of Retained Council Housing, All rights reserved.






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Association of Retained Council Housing · 4 Riley Court · Millburn Hill Road · Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7HP · United Kingdom

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp