Housing

Chronic shortage of social housing leaves families stuck in accommodation that is harmful to their health

New Crisis research shows that nearly three quarters of people on waiting lists are in unsuitable properties

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee in Scotland issues call for views in relation to its scrutiny of Scottish Housing Regulator

In particular, Committee asks how effectively the Regulator is carrying out its functions and whether there is more that it could do

Renters’ Rights Bill receives first reading in the House of Commons

Government Bill includes provision to abolish ‘no-fault’ section 21 evictions in England, end the practice of rental bidding wars and apply a Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector

Northern Ireland Executive launches consultation on its draft Programme for Government

Plans include introducing new legislation to improve employment rights, taking action to prevent homelessness and bringing in a new Fuel Poverty Strategy

Ombudsman criticises council for using an outdated definition of domestic abuse when refusing to exempt a pregnant woman from its local connection criteria for housing support

Investigation finds Ealing Council was wrong to decide there were ‘no special circumstances’ to exempt the woman from meeting its local residency criteria to join the housing register

More than 6,000 households in Wales were identified as unintentionally homeless and in priority need in 2023/2024, a record high since introduction of new homelessness regime in 2015

New statistics from the Welsh Government also report a record number of households were placed in temporary accommodation in the same period

Time to address failings identified in Grenfell Inquiry report is ‘already three decades too late’

Grenfell United calls for urgent action to address lack of competence and understanding and the fundamental failure to perform the most basic duties of care

Government confirms it will not take forward previous government’s proposals for reform of the social housing allocation system in England

Consultation response concludes that plans would not have delivered any meaningful improvements and were either unnecessary, unfeasible, risked harming communities, or too costly

Registered social landlords in Scotland generally outperformed local authorities across most areas of service delivery in 2023/2024

Scottish Housing Regulator's National Report on standards shows that councils were outperformed on issues including average re-let times, levels of rent arrears and almost all tenant satisfaction indicators

Round-up of recent Ombudsman decisions and reports

Round-up of recent Upper Tribunal housing case law

Local authorities in England spent a record £2.29 billion on providing emergency temporary accommodation to homeless households in 2023/2024

Crisis says Westminster Government has to address the financial pressures caused by increased use of temporary accommodation by ensuring that the Autumn Budget includes more funding for councils

Amendments to the short-term lets licensing scheme in Scotland

New statutory instrument

Supreme Court rules that non-compliance with ‘right to manage’ statutory notice framework did not invalidate claim made by RTM company

A1 Properties (Sunderland) Ltd v Tudor Studios RTM Company Ltd [2024] UKSC 27

Government confirms Rushanara Ali as new Minister with responsibilities for homelessness and rough sleeping

MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney will also take on responsibility for the Grenfell Inquiry, building safety, housing quality, and supported housing and domestic abuse

High Court rules B&B accommodation offered to intentionally homeless family in priority need was unsuitable due to children’s mental health needs

ZRR, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Bexley [2024] EWHC 2073 (Admin)

Shelter calls on government to establish a cross-department homelessness strategy as number of children in temporary accommodation hits ‘shameful’ new record of more than 150,000

Responding to new official statistics revealing the 'rapidly escalating housing emergency', charity warns that this government must succeed where previous ones have failed