Carl Brown

Innovation, collaboration and the search for capital: Greg Reed outlines what the social housing sector must do post-spending review Following the better-than-expected spending review, the Places for People boss argues that the sector now needs to work out how best it can deliver an offer in return - and that includes finding new w...

Innovation, collaboration and the search for capital: Places for People CEO Greg Reed outlines what the social housing sector must do post-spending review #ukhousing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/innovation-c...

‘Having housing stability improves your life chances’: Chan Kataria reflects on his 40 years in social housing The charismatic chief executive of EMH Group steps down this week after a 40-year housing career. Here he explains how childhood upheaval shaped his thoughts about housing and talks about his biggest achievements and what comes next. Carl Brown reports

‘Having housing stability improves your life chances’: Chan Kataria reflects on his 40 years in social housing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/hav...

Is the social housing sector ready for Awaab’s Law? The first phase of Awaab's Law comes into effect from next week, but what have social landlords been doing to prepare? Alex Funk speaks to experts and providers to find out

Is the social housing sector ready for Awaab’s Law? The first phase of Awaab’s Law comes into effect from next week, but what have social landlords been doing to prepare? Alex Funk speaks to experts and providers to find out www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/is-...

A hidden housing hurdle: How sewage treatment capacity is stalling 30,000 new homes - and why it could get much worse A growing number of water companies are objecting to planning applications for homes on the basis that there is not enough local sewage treatment capacity to cope, writes Joey Gardiner.

Great piece on Housing Today about the "hidden housing hurdle" that is stalling 30,000 more homes.
A growing number of water companies are objecting to applications on the basis that there is not enough local sewage treatment capacity #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/a-hidden-hou...

Are we finally heading for growth or more stagflation? This is the key question as we reveal Building Magazine's exclusive Top 150 Consultants rankings for 2025 along with analysis and results of our annual sentiment survey. www.building.co.uk/focus/top-15...

Who is Amy Rees? Everything you need to know about new Homes England chief MHCLG's pick to lead the government's delivery agency came out of left field. So what do we know about the new quango boss? And what does her appointment tell us about Homes England's future?

Who is Amy Rees? MHCLG’s decision to pick the long-time prisons boss to lead Homes England came out of left field.
Here's everything you need to know. Great piece by Daniel Gayne for @housingtoday.bsky.social www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/who...

Homes England hires former prisons chief as CEO Amy Rees will take up the role on 8 September

Homes England has just announced its new CEO - and it's an interesting choice.
Amy Rees worked for 13 years at the Prison and Probation Service, including 8 years as director general chief executive #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/homes-e...

CIH vice-president election 2025: a guide to the candidates Chartered Institute of Housing members can now vote in the election for the institute's president in 2026. Here is a guide to the five candidates

It's that time of year again when@cihhousing.bsky.social
members can elect the institute's vice-president (who then by convention then becomes president after a year). #ukhousing
Here's a guide to all five candidates, including their full manifestoes: www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/cih...

Reeves to announce £39bn Affordable Homes Programme and 10-year rent settlement Treasury also confirms CPI plus 1% increases and a consultation on rent convergence in a major win for the affordable housing sector

The Treasury has just announced that the chancellor will tomorrow announce a £39bn Affordable Homes Programme rather than the £25bn reported by the FT and others earlier today. It would appear Rayner has come away with a better settlement than expected.
www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/reeves-...

Proposed licensing reforms would likely reduce provision of supported housing further, warns NHF Trade body concerned cost burden of new regime risks unintended consequences and calls for "pragmatic adjustments"

Proposed licensing reforms would likely reduce provision of supported housing further, warns NHF: Trade body concerned cost burden of new regime risks unintended consequences and calls for “pragmatic adjustments”
www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/propose...

The green belt announcement may have grabbed the headlines last week but there are lots of other interesting things in the 76-page consultation document on the new London Plan. Here are the things you may have missed 👉#ukhousing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/bey...

For-profit RPs call on Rayner to remove tax and regulations ‘disadvantage’ to attract more finance for social housing Group says for-profit sector could increase equity fundraising to £3bn a year, leading to 30,000 new homes annually

For-profit providers call on Rayner to remove tax and regulations ‘disadvantage’ to attract more finance for social housing #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/for-pro...

‘I’m going to deal with this’ – Riverside boss Paul Dolan opens up about personal and professional resilience Riverside's new boss took the reins a year ago but, within days of starting, he was plunged into a battle with bowel cancer. Now, back from surgery and after chemotherapy, he uses his first interview ...

Riverside’s new boss Paul Dolan took the reins a year ago but, within days of starting, he was plunged into a battle with cancer. Now, back from surgery and chemotherapy, he opens up about his journey and his plans for the national landlord #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/im-...

MHCLG officials to discuss funding model proposed by Housing Today and the G15

Civil servants from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have expressed an interest in discussing a new funding model proposed by Housing Today and the G15 group of landlords. #ukhousing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/mhclg-o...

A distinct culture but familiar dilemmas: Spotlight on Scotland’s social housing sector In the first in a new series looking at the social housing landscape in the devolved nations, Daniel Gayne sits down with leading figures from the Scottish sector to discuss the key trends and challen...

In the first in @housingtoday.bsky.social's new series looking at the social housing landscape in the devolved nations, Daniel Gayne sits down with leading figures from the Scottish sector to discuss the key trends and challenges north of the border #housing www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/a-d...

Is PFI about to stage a comeback? As part of Building's new Funding the Future series, Joey Gardiner considers the chances of an unlikely renaissance for the much-maligned initiative

Is PFI about to stage a comeback?
As part of Building Magazine’s new Funding the Future series, Joey Gardiner considers the chances of an unlikely renaissance for the much-maligned initiative #buildingfundfuture #construction #infrastructure
Read the piece here www.building.co.uk/focus/is-pfi...

We've announced a new campaign today on Building Magazine.
Funding the Future will examine fresh ways of attracting and using finance to boost construction projects at a time of constrained public finances. #buildingfundfuture
Click here www.building.co.uk/focus/how-do...

Key talking points from CIH’s TAI 2025 conference From affordable housing development, to new building safety legislation, tenant engagement and the pros and cons of mergers, attendees at TAI 2025 in Wales this week heard vigorous debates on many top...

From affordable housing development, to new building safety legislation, tenant engagement and the pros and cons of mergers, attendees to #TAI2025 in Wales this week heard vigorous debates on many topics. @cihcymru.bsky.social
Here are the takeaways 👇 www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/key...

Do TMOs and ALMOs really need to change post-Grenfell? The government has pledged to review the governance of organisations managing stock on behalf of councils. But is this really necessary? And, if so, what should reform look like? Alex Funk explores

As part of its response to the Grenfell Inquiry report, the government has pledged to review the governance of TMOs and ALMOs managing social housing stock on behalf of councils.
But is this necessary?
And, if so, what should reform look like? #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/do-...

Housing Champions 2025: Call for entries to Housing Today’s list of impressive professionals List celebrates those who are going above and beyond in their day-to-day roles to improve services for residents

Do you know of a housing professional who is doing fantastic work in their day-to-day role?
You can now nominate them for inclusion in Housing Today's Top 30 Housing Champions 2025. #ukhousin #everypersoncounts www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/housing...

That's true, they are also actually for the period til 31 march 2030 (whereas the mainfesto pledge is til the end of the parliment - summer 2029 at the latest). However the figures are still higher than many would've expected.

NPPF changes will result in 1.3m homes built by the end of the parliament, OBR forecasts Housebuilding to exceed 300,000 homes a year by 2029/30, excluding impact of forthcoming Affordable Homes Programme

This is positive for #ukhousing - the OBR is forecasting the government's NPPF changes alone will result in 1.3m homes by the end of the parliament, with delivery exceeding 300,000 homes a year by 2029/30.
www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/nppf-ch...

Are housing associations really overcharging residents? Tenants are winning service charge cases in court, but official figures show housing associations spend more on services than they actually bill for. Daniel Gayne looks into whether these cases are is...

"Based on the Regulator of Social Housing’s figures, the sector is effectively subsidising service charge costs to the tune of £600m" #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/are...

Housing Today and G15 call on ministers to explore new grant funding model Move towards amortised grant could help London's housing associations develop while limiting increases in government balance sheet debt

New joint report out from @housingtoday.bsky.social and G15 outlining ideas to boost affordable housing delivery in London including a new amortised grant funding model that could help HAs develop while making it easier for the government to invest #ukhousing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/housing...

Land banking: the baseless conspiracy theory that refuses to go away Despite numerous reviews finding no evidence of housebuilders deliberately withholding land from the market, we are again having to talk about 'unbuilt' homes, writes Paul Smith

Strong stuff this morning on Housing Today from Paul Smith pushing back at the latest claims of widespread 'land banking' by housebuilders #ukhousing
www.housingtoday.co.uk/land-banking...

How closely has the government adhered to the Grenfell Inquiry’s recommendations? While Angela Rayner has promised to 'take forward' all of the recommendations, not all appear to have been adopted to the letter. Daniel Gayne and Tom Lowe analyse the wriggle room the government has ...

Angela Rayner has promised to "take forward" all of the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry.
However not all appear to have been adopted to the letter.
www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/how... #housing #ukhousing #buildingsafety #construction

Rural housing champion: Rethinking local delivery of repairs with Stonewater CEO Nick Harris Stonewater has grown its housing stock by around 10,000 properties in just 10 years since it was formed through a merger of Raglan and Jephson. Nick Harris talks about the challenge of maintaining cus...

“Our biggest estate is only 250 homes. A lot of my colleagues [in other associations] have ex-council estates... we are not in that situation
"The way we deliver services has got to be slightly different."
Housing Today interview with Stonewater CEO Nick Harris www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/rur...

Seven regional groups of social landlords join forces to call for funding overhaul Joint spending review submission from groups representing 75 housing associations and councils call for consolidation of funding pots and reclassification of housing investment as infrastructure spend

Seven regional groups of social landlords have produced a joint submission to government ahead of the spending review.
The groups call for the consolidation of grant into just two pots and reclassifying housing spend as infrastructure. #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/seven-r...

Why is abolishing the Right to Buy so far off the table in England? In the first in a series of monthly pieces by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, Professor Ken Gibb reflects on the endurance of Thatcher's flagship housing policy

"Why is abolishing this policy so far off the table? Is it something to do with perceptions regarding aspirations to own, and is this more important than meeting affordable need?" Ken Gibb of the CaCHE on the Right to Buy #ukhousing www.housingtoday.co.uk/why-is-aboli...

Key talking points from the CIH South West conference

It's been another very busy week at Housing Today, Building not least for our reporter Alex Funk who has networking down in Bristol at the @cihhousing.bsky.social South West conference.
Here is Alex's round-up of the key talking points #CIHSW25 #ukhousing
👉 www.housingtoday.co.uk/in-focus/key...