James Riding

60 years on: the story of the Race Relations Act 1965 This Black History Month, Inside Housing looks back at the Race Relations Act to consider the legacy of the first anti-racism law in England.

“Ever since that [act], both the main parties constantly associated the two: that we can’t progress race equality without then also controlling how many immigrants we have in this country"

Fascinating piece in Inside Housing today from @sajeraj.bsky.social

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/60-y...

Exclusive: Investment giant widens focus from shared ownership to all affordable tenures Investment giant M&G has widened its focus from shared ownership to all affordable housing tenures, Inside Housing can reveal.

Exclusive: Investment giant M&G has widened its focus from shared ownership to all affordable housing tenures

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/exclusi...

Reform will move to a pro-social housing agenda, says Starmer’s ex-economic advisor Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party will move towards a pro-social housing agenda because so many social renters are considering voting for them, Sir Keir Starmer’s former economic advisor has said.

New: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party will move towards a pro-social housing agenda because so many social renters are considering voting for them, Sir Keir Starmer’s former economic advisor has said

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/reform-...

Nothing in this acknowledges the economic reality of why many brownfield sites don’t get away as housing: they’re not financially viable unless someone (usually us, in some form) pays for them to be cleaned up and made ready

It's My Party and I'll cry if I want to

London’s housebuilding meltdown: what happens next? Shockingly poor housebuilding figures emerged from London over the summer. James Riding speaks to developers and London’s deputy mayor Tom Copley to find out where we go from here.

Here's my full report: www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/lond...

Deputy mayor Tom Copley says “I’m quite confident, particularly as we go through this year, we’re going to see an uptick in terms of affordable housing delivery, and we are coming up with the next London Plan, which is going to absolutely have housing and growth at its heart."

The rise of single-family housing – institutional investment pouring into new-build houses in the suburbs – shows that private capital is willing to invest in housing. It’s just not willing to invest in high-rise flats because of all the risk.

“On the one hand more is demanded [of developers], but on the other side of the equation there’s less that can be offered, because the buildings that we’re producing now are a lot more complicated than they were 10-15 years ago,” says development consultant Nick Cuff

Higher interest rates and build cost inflation since 2020 eroded developers' profits. But one of the biggest challenges is the post-Grenfell Building Safety Regulator in 2024. The regulator has struggled to work through a backlog of applications and rejects over 70% of them

Sadiq Khan oversaw a boom in private housebuilding in London that peaked in 2019-20, with 45,676 net additions

Now the boom is over. Net additions are estimated at 31,800 for 2024-25 and will fall further as dire starts translate into completions

Shockingly poor housebuilding figures emerged from London over the summer

Just 2,158 private homes were started in the first half of the year according to Molior: the lowest figure since 2009

I spoke to developers and deputy mayor Tom Copley to find out where we go from here 🧵

Build-to-rent won't inevitably drive rents up Commentators have linked build-to-rent to rising rents but the truth is much more complex, writes Michael Keaveney, director of land and development at Grainger.

Does build-to-rent drive up rents in nearby areas? The truth is much more complex, argues Michael Keaveney, director of land and development at Grainger, in Inside Housing today

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/buil...

Just 27% of retrofits completed under flagship government decarbonisation scheme An £800m government scheme to decarbonise social homes has underperformed with less than a third of targeted retrofits completed, Inside Housing can reveal.

Exclusive: An £800m government scheme to decarbonise social homes has underperformed with less than a third of targeted retrofits completed

www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/just-27...

Definitely a contender for best list of Alternative Names on a Wikipedia page

Ian McEwan is back — and he’s had fun with his strangest book yet The acclaimed writer’s latest novel, What We Can Know, is a literary hotpot of poetry, social history, dementia and murder

“For all his reputation as an elder statesman of solid literary fiction, Ian McEwan’s 50-year career has been characterised by eccentricities and surprising left-turns.”

Me on McEwan’s strangest novel yet, What We Can Know, about poetry, murder and the long view of human development:

William Boyd’s new spy novel is full of JFK conspiracy theories The Predicament is a comfortably retro return to the world of Gabriel Dax, who is trying to foil a plan to assassinate the US president

www.thetimes.com/article/3605...

William Boyd’s new spy novel is full of JFK conspiracy theories. Who does he think is the most entertaining culprit for the president’s assassination?

Here’s my review for @thetimes.com - link below

One Boat by Jonathan Buckley — a hunky Greek, bad poetry and a lawyer at sea The author’s 13th novel, a Booker prize contender, explores guilt and grief against the backdrop of a Greek seaside town

www.thetimes.com/article/bbde...

I reviewed the first ever Fitzcarraldo novel on the Booker Prize longlist: One Boat by Jonathan Buckley, a tale of guilt and grief on the Greek coast.

It’s intermittently absorbing with flourishes of beauty - but it evaporates in the memory.

Link to my Sunday Times piece below

A modular factory where one in three staff are prisoners on day release On the factory floor of a warehouse in Peterborough, prisoners on day release are helping to make modular homes that will be erected as social housing and temporary accommodation. The project also has...

We have a really interesting story today by @jamesriding.bsky.social on a modular factory staffed by prisoners on day release.

This type of project has good evidence that it reduces reoffending. A portion of wages go to a fund to support victims.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/a-mo...

Skyscrapers and social housing: inside Manchester’s extraordinary housing transformation James Riding meets Tom Stannard, chief executive of Manchester City Council, and Bev Craig, leader of the council, to discuss build-to-rent, the Building Safety Regulator and affordable housing

As a reporter covering housing I find Manchester fascinating. In just 14 years, the city centre population has almost trebled. Meanwhile the number of people on the waiting list for a social home has gone from 0 to 11,500.

My dispatch from the council:

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/skys...

How to deal with a midlife crisis — get in a car and keep driving The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits is the story of a man who escapes his ‘C-minus marriage’ by taking an impromptu road trip across America

Great to see Ben Markovits longlisted for the Booker Prize for his novel The Rest of Our Lives - a slim study of middle-aged ennui set on the US highway.

Here's my review for @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Loving this month's cover @insidehousing.bsky.social!

How a deep retrofit project is creating affordable housing again, after 200 years The Duke of Westminster’s property company is using deep retrofit to turn an 18th-century London street into affordable housing. James Riding visits the project

A street in Mayfair where William Blake once lived is being refurbished and turned back into housing - including 11 affordable homes.

I took a look round and spoke to the developers about the “mind-forged manacles” of conservation policy

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/how-...

Sir Keir Starmer exclusive: keeping our housing promises In an Inside Housing exclusive, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer sets out how his government aims to boost affordable housing and homeownership

The prime minister writes exclusively for Inside Housing today

He discusses the new Affordable Homes Programme and warns “if we don’t build more homes, the consequences will be dire”

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/sir-...

A new chapter for Inside Housing Inside Housing is expanding to cover new sub-sectors of housing. James Riding, living markets editor, explains why

We have lift-off. The first Inside Housing Living Bulletin has been sent!

To find out why we have widened our gaze to the wider residential market, read my column

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/a-ne...

Great scene from Martin Amis's Money about a one-sided tennis match between overweight alcoholic John Self and lean young Fielding, "raised on steaks and on milk sweetened with iron and zinc"

Big news today at Inside Housing - we are expanding our coverage beyond social housing. My colleague @jamesriding.bsky.social, who is leading on our new patches, explains why we’ve made this decision:

JLL predicts the government's new £39bn Affordable Homes Programme could fund up to 500,000 homes over the next decade or 50,000 a year "at a stretch".

Note they would be spread between social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership. And gov target is 1.5 million homes of all tenures-in 5 years!