Posted: February 28, 2018 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Social housing, Television, Tenants |
News that 90% of social housing tenants feel that the media presents stereotypes of them is depressing but sadly not surprising.
As a report launched at the House of Commons today by the Benefit to Society campaign argues, the negative views are embedded in whole swathes of TVprogramming that links housing tenure to benefits status.
But it’s not just about poverty porn like Benefits Street and Council House Crackdown and tabloid headlines about scroungers and large families.
More thoughtful programmes like How to get a Council House can mine the same themes and generate the same hostility.
And even supposedly objective TV and broadsheet news coverage can strengthen the stereotypes by resorting to the lazy clichés of ‘sink’ and ‘crumbling’ estates and using stock pictures and idents of tower blocks and abandoned shopping trolleys.
So it is good to see that my union, the National Union of Journalists, is backing the Fair Press for Tenants guide aimed at journalists, PR people and documentary makers.
And the level of media interest in today’s launch and opinion poll also bodes well and is a chance to combat the stereotypes and change a few opinions.
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Posted: February 27, 2018 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Affordable housing, Scotland, Social housing |
First posted as a blog for Inside Housing on February 27.
News that Scotland is on track to deliver its ambitious plans for affordable homes is great news in itself but it also shows those further south what can be achieved when a government and the housing sector are determined enough.
The Scottish Government has promised 50,000 affordable homes, of which 35,000 will be for social rent, between April 2016 and March 2021. This is the largest programme of its kind since the 1970s.
And an independent analysis of local authorities’ Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) published on Monday find that Scotland should deliver between 45,000 and 50,000 affordable homes and up to 34,850 for social rent.
That’s impressive enough but even more so when you consider it in the context of what’s happening (or not) further south.
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Posted: February 16, 2018 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Home ownership, Inequality, Mortgages | Tags: IFS, Resolution Foundation |
Originally published on my blog for Inside Housing on February 16.
Housing is so often presented as a story of inequality between the generations but what about inequality within generations?
Analysis published on Friday by the Institute for Fiscal Studies confirms the familiar story of the collapse of home ownership among younger people that has been accompanied by a surge in private renting and adults still living with their parents into their late 20s and early 30s.
The IFS briefing concentrates on people aged 25-34, exactly the age group who could once have been expecting to take their first step on to the housing ladder.
The collapse has obviously been biggest in London but home ownership rates have fallen even in the cheapest regions like the North East and Cumbria.
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Posted: February 13, 2018 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Inequality, politics | Tags: Talking Politics |
Originally posted for Inside Housing on February 13.
When you’re used to seeing things up close sometimes it makes sense to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Just such a macro look at housing comes in the latest episode of one of my favourite podcasts.
This week’s episode of Talking Politics is about what it calls ‘the fundamentals’, the factors that influence the politics of voters’ everyday that seem to outside the control of the politicians
The discussion starts with two propositions that are startling not just in themselves but also because they come from Cambridge academics who are more used to talking about Brexit and Trump than housing affordability and housebuilding.
The first is that housing is more politically important to the government than the NHS. Following on from that, the second is that if Jeremy Corbyn wins the next election housing will be the main reason why.
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Posted: February 7, 2018 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Leasehold, London, Regeneration, Social housing, Tenants |
Originally posted at Inside Housing on February 7.
Tenants get a vote if their landlord wants to transfer the ownership of their homes, so why not when their homes are going to be knocked down around them?
I’ve long believed that tenant ballots should be compulsory under major regeneration proposals even though the idea is not as simple as some people make out and is not going to fix current problems on its own.
Why? London mayor Sadiq Khan says he will require ballots on proposals where demolition is involved and which have Greater London Authority funding.
He has changed his mind since draft guidance last year argued that surveys and meetings should be held as proposals evolve ‘so that a “real time” assessment of the acceptability of what is being proposed is enabled’.
The draft said ballots and votes ‘can risk turning a complex set of issues that affects different people at different ways over many years into a simple “yes/no” decision at a single point in time’.
After a unanimous vote in favour of ballots by the London Assembly, the final version says that: ‘I want the good practice and principles in this guide to be applied on all estate regeneration schemes across London. Where demolition is involved, I intend to use my planning powers, and a new requirement for resident ballots where my funding is involved, to help ensure this is the case.’
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Jules Birch 