Archives for December 2006
Midlands housing programme receives £44.5m
Housing minister Yvette Cooper today pledged nearly £44.5 million to the gentrification of Birmingham and Sandwell as part of the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder scheme.
The boroughs of the West Midlands will see up to £280 million in additional funding raised as part of the investment, which will help deliver 7,500 new or improved homes in areas such as West Bromwich, Soho and Greets Green, creating more affordable housing.
The Lozells area will also benefit from a long-term programme of renovation, which has been extended as part of the renewal initiative.
“These local communities in Birmingham and Sandwell need our support to tackle deep-rooted problems caused by economic decline so that they can reach their full potential and create clean, safe, healthy and attractive environments in which people can take pride,” said Ms Cooper.
David Seviour, chairman of Urban Living, the government-founded organisation in charge of the pathfinder programme, described the funding as “excellent news”.
“Our aim is to improve the choice and range of housing so that people choose to live in the pathfinder area,” he said.
£3.2 million will be made available for the remainder of the 2006/07 tax year, to complement the £12 million interim grant awarded earlier in the year, which will be supplemented with an additional £29.2 million for 2007/08.
Government reviews social housing regulation
The first independent review of social housing regulation for 32 years was announced today.
As statistics were published showing a 25 per cent jump in the number of new dwellings built since 2002, the government commissioned professor Martin Cave, director of the centre of management under regulation at Warwick University to review social housing laws.
Communities secretary Ruth Kelly said that the independent assessment was judicious, since the regulatory framework for social housing had remained fundamentally unchanged since the previous such appraisal in 1974.
“This review is a timely opportunity to look at how the regulatory system should be reformed to better support tenants, reduce burdens on social housing providers and to reflect current and future government priorities,” she said.
Professor Cave insisted that his review would rely on evidence “from all who have an interest in this sector” and would “put the needs of tenants at the heart of the regulatory process”.
The review team has called for evidence of social housing regulation and has set a deadline of February 16th 2007 for responses.
Housing corporation chairman Peter Dixon publicly welcomed the review.
Statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government published today indicate that 163,000 new or converted dwellings were finished in the financial year ending March 31st 2005, a five per cent increase on the previous 12-month period.
Four million of the 21.8 million residential premises in the UK as of March 2005 were rented from a local authority or social landlord.