Tag

More action is needed to afford leaseholders protection in the Building Safety Bill

The gulf between the government’s rhetoric that developers must pay, and actions to ensure they do pay, remains too wide. Parliamentarians from both Houses must find ways to bridge that gap.

29 Jun Communities

New Lords committee to take on growing housing demand

New Built Environment Lords Committee will look at the government’s housing target, the impact of reforms to the planning system and how barriers to meeting housing demand can be overcome.

28 Jun Communities

We must stop “Lakeland Clearances” turfing out local families to make way for expensive second homes

What we don’t need is villages like Coniston or Grasmere, in the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom, to be filled with empty houses, with no local people living there.

25 Jun Communities

Building Safety Bill must not leave behind leaseholders saddled with ruinous remediation costs

The Building Safety Bill will be a great opportunity for the government to commit to helping leaseholders whose homes are deemed not safe through no fault of their own.

23 Jun Communities

Planning reform need not be a battle between the north and south

Given how defensive many people feel about their green fields, the idea that they are under threat from remote officials applying a mutant algorithm is truly toxic.

08 Jun Communities

Government must step in to prevent a Covid induced mass homelessness crisis

The enormous amount of prospective homeless people and families dwarfs any other emergency that homeless advocates like me have ever seen before. Government must reinstate the eviction ban.

02 Jun Communities

The Ground Rent Bill is a missed opportunity to end the leasehold scandal

The scandal of new homes with doubling ground rents goes back years, impacting a potential 4.5 million leaseholders. People shouldn’t have to wait for the glacial pace of government to fix this unfair system.

11 May Communities

Government must advance social housing to prevent yet another Grenfell disaster

The social housing white paper provides a unique opportunity to implement a fundamental shift in the treatment of social housing tenants and fully address the full scale of the building safety crisis.

07 May Communities

Fire at New Providence Wharf: an eyewitness account

As I write, I don’t know the wellbeing of my neighbours, the damage done to my belongings or when I will be able to access my home.

Partner content

07 May Health

BANT welcomes the BJGP article on the ‘lifestyle medicine movement’ and opens the door to further discussions.

BANT welcomes the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) May 4th article on lifestyle medicine and is encouraged by the acknowledgement of well-informed drivers validating this movement.

04 May Communities

Fire Safety Bill will see leaseholders go bankrupt from huge remediation costs

Whatever shameless spin is placed on this, the bottom line is simple - the Fire Safety Bill transfers liability to leaseholders making them legally and financially liable for huge remediation costs.

26 Apr Coronavirus

Communities worked well together during Covid - how do we sustain that during the next crisis?

It is an understatement to say the Covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges across all walks of life, and as Director of the Emergencies Partnerships those challenges were at the forefront of my day to day work.

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21 Apr Communities

NOAH Launches Campaign to Promote Pet Ownership for Renters

NOAH has launched a campaign ‘Securing the Right to Rent with Pets: Making One Health Housing a Reality’, to help improve access to pets for people living in rented or socially owned housing.

Partner content

21 Apr Environment

Why the success of a green recovery requires engaging with - and learning from - minority communities

Although the UK has world-leading net zero targets, simply setting the target is not enough. Achieving it requires the participation of all sectors of society. However, racialized minority communities are underrepresented in mainstream approaches to achieving environmental sustainability.

Partner content

31 Mar Coronavirus

Health messaging in the vaccine rollout: the role of the community

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been met with much enthusiasm, with some hailing it as the beginning of the end of the pandemic. But health experts fear such optimism might prompt people to pay less attention to hygienic compliance measures, such as hand washing and wearing masks in public.

23 Mar Communities

Levelling Up Fund bias is leaving deprived communities behind

Deprivation should indicate which areas get priority funding under the Levelling Up Fund. Instead, towns are pitted against each another in a competition for funding where Ministers get to pick winners and losers.

10 Mar Communities

Covid has highlighted the need for new investment in council housing to tackle overcrowding

For those forced to live, learn and work in one room, the psychological impact of lockdown has been extraordinary. As we build back from this crisis, we must ensure everyone has access to a safe, secure and affordable home - with space to live.

10 Mar Communities

The government must step in to help leaseholders still burdened with fire safety costs

We are re-tabling the McPartland-Smith amendment to the Fire Safety Bill. Leaseholders should not be bankrupted on account of decisions made by others, and since they cannot pay, then the government must step in.

09 Mar Communities

No leaseholder should pay for interim fire safety measures

Leaseholders did not cause the cladding scandal, and yet they are paying the price while those responsible are not pursued in any meaningful way.

A bakery creating opportunities for women from disadvantaged backgrounds

Partner content

08 Mar Communities

A bakery creating opportunities for women from disadvantaged backgrounds

Luminary Bakery, an all-female project partially funded by The National Lottery, is helping women from disadvantaged backgrounds to get back into work.

02 Mar Communities

The Vagrancy Act should be repealed and replaced with legislation that puts protection not criminality at its heart

The Vagrancy Act is simply not fit for purpose. New legislation must recognise there needs to be a combined health and housing approach to tackle rough sleeping.

24 Feb Communities

The government has failed to tackle the cladding crisis at every stage – it’s time to fix their broken promises

Government must do the right thing for the victims and survivors of Grenfell and their families, as well as ensuring leaseholders are not left to foot the bill of fire safety remediation costs.

24 Feb Communities

Covid has exposed the cracks in our broken housing system

Renters are at the sharp end of this crisis, with many spending lockdown in cramped accommodation and in insecure work. We must protect them from eviction loopholes and potentially falling into homelessness.

22 Feb Communities

The Chancellor must help renters in the budget to prevent mass unemployment and homelessness

We need a targeted financial package to help renters pay off arrears built since the beginning of lockdown and a welfare system that gives them financial security to continue living in their homes.