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Inside Housing
12/12/08
Inside Housing
12/12/08
Inside Housing
12/12/08
Jason Beattie, Daily Mirror
03/12/08
Guardian
02/12/08
Inside Housing
26/11/08
Tim Dwelly, Inside Housing
21/11/08
Public Finance
14/11/08
Inside Housing
14/11/08
Adam Sampson/Kate Davies, Times
14/11/08
Alan Walter, Inside Housing
14/11/08
Jill Sherman and Rebecca OConnor , Times
14/11/08
Sheffield Star
12/11/08
Sheffield Star
12/11/08
Emily Rogers, Inside Housing
12/11/08
Sheffield Star
11/11/08
Editorial, Sheffield Star
11/11/08
Austin Mitchell, Times
11/11/08
BBC
10/11/08
Inside Housing
10/11/08
Leader, Times
10/11/08
Jill Sherman, Times
10/11/08
Adam Sampson, Guardian
10/11/08
Kate Murray, Inside Housing
07/11/08
Martin Hilditch, Inside Housing
28/10/08
Martin Hilditch, Inside Housing
28/10/08
Inside Housing
22/10/08
Inside Housing
17/10/08
Inside Housing
17/10/08
Inside Housing
13/10/08
Inside Housing
08/10/08
Inside Housing
19/09/08
Inside Housing
17/09/08
Inside Housing
15/08/08
Inside Housing
08/08/08
Will Hutton, Observer
27/07/08
Keith Cooper, Inside Housing
25/07/08
Inside Housing
13/06/08
Inside Housing
13/06/08
Inside Housing
06/06/08
Inside Housing
06/06/08
Inside Housing
06/06/08
Inside Housing
30/05/08
Inside Housing
30/05/08
Inside Housing
22/05/08
Jamie Doward, Observer
04/05/08
Gaby Hinsliff, Observer
06/04/08
Jason Allardyce , Sunday Times
06/04/08
Inside Housing
14/03/08
Simon Brandon, Inside Housing
22/02/08
Martin Hilditch , Inside Housing
08/02/08
Martin Hilditch , Inside Housing
08/02/08
John Harris, Guardian
08/02/08
Kevin Maguire, Daily Mirror
06/02/08
Adam Sampson, New Statesman
06/02/08
Jill Sherman, Times
06/02/08
Patrick Wintour, Guardian
06/02/08
Leader, Guardian
06/02/08
Adam Sampson, Daily Mirror
06/02/08
Bob Roberts, Daily Mirror
06/02/08
various, Guardian
06/02/08
Lynsey Hanley, Guardian
06/02/08
Patrick Wintour, Guardian
05/02/08
Rosalind Ryan and Andrew Sparrow , Guardian Unlimited
05/02/08
BBC
05/02/08
Adam Sampson, Guardian
05/02/08
Independent
05/02/08
24dash
05/02/08
Inside Housing
01/02/08
Jill Treanor , Guardian
30/01/08
Andrew Clark , Guardian
30/01/08
Emily Rogers , Inside Housing
14/12/07
Inside Housing
14/12/07
Citizens Advice
12/12/07
Yvette Cooper , CLG
12/12/07
Inside Housing
07/12/07
Inside Housing
04/10/07
Martin Hilditch, Inside Housing
14/09/07
Martin Hilditch , Inside Housing
13/09/07
Housing market at high risk from shock, Financial Times
30/07/07
BBC
15/07/07
Martin Hickman, Independent
11/07/07
Martin Hilditch , Inside Housing
15/06/07
Anindya Bhattacharyya, Socialist Worker
12/06/07
Richard Hammond, Daily Mirror
09/06/07
Sharlene Goff , Financial Times
02/06/07
Karen Day, Public Finance
04/05/07
Ruth Kelly, Guardian Comment
30/03/07
Alan Walter, Guardian
29/03/07
Adam Sampson, Guardian
28/03/07
Faisal Islam, New Statesman
05/03/07
Lynsey Hanley, Observer (letters)
04/03/07
John Perry, Public Finance
02/03/07
Anita Pati , Inside Housing
01/03/07
Kate Murray, Inside Housing
01/03/07
Austin Mitchell MP, John and Sharon Marais..., Observer
25/02/07
Public Finance
23/02/07
Inside Housing
23/02/07
Inside Housing
23/02/07
Andy McSmith, Independent
21/02/07
Bob Roberts, Mirror
21/02/07
Alison Benjamin, Guardian
21/02/07
Editorial, Independent
21/02/07
Sue Carroll , Mirror
21/02/07
Editorial, Mirror
21/02/07
Mirror
20/02/07
Alan Walter, Society Guardian
20/02/07
BBC
20/02/07
DCLG Press Release
20/02/07
Matt Weaver, Society Guardian
20/02/07
Mirror
20/02/07
Steve Richards, Independent
20/02/07
Rosemary Bennett, The Times
20/02/07
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
20/02/07
24 Dash
20/02/07
24dash.com
20/02/07
Bob Roberts, Mirror
19/02/07
24dash
19/02/07
Bob Roberts , Mirror
19/02/07
Angela Phillips , Guardian Comment
19/02/07
Will Hutton, Observer
18/02/07
Huma Qureshi , Observer
18/02/07
Public Finance
16/02/07
Lynsey Hanley, Guardian
14/02/07
Lynsey Hanley , Guardian
14/02/07
BBC
14/02/07
Jill Sherman, The Times
14/02/07
Patrick Wintour, Guardian
13/02/07
Patrick Wintour, Guardian
13/02/07
Times
13/02/07
Times
13/02/07
Ruth Kelly Speech, Fabian Society
13/02/07
Rebecca Evans, Inside Housing
30/06/06
Inside Housing
06/08/04
Inside Housing
30/07/04
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The latest attacks on 'secure' tenancies comes from the Chartered Institute of Housing. Their
Rethinking housing report (Oct 2008)
argues that when tenants' circumstances improve they should either move into the private sector (private renting or home ownership) or
pay market rents. The CIH was so shocked that tenants and others objected that they issued an immediate
'open letter'. See key extract (below) and press coverage (left).
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Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, has responded by
telling Parliament "I am not at all sympathetic to the notion that council housing residents should somehow lose their security of tenure."
She also told the great and the good of the housing world attending a Smith Institute seminar "social housing will always be a vital resource for the vulnerable; but it needs to be more than just that. It should not just be there in times of crisis: it needs to provide better opportunities and support." (11/11/08)
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See DCH
initial response,
follow up and
Beckett dismisses tenancy for life speculation.
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Government is planning a new Housing Reform Green Paper (expected December).
Anothert report by the New Local Government Network recommends market rents, the end of secure tenancies, forcing elderly tenants to leave their
family homes once their children grow up, and intrusive ‘advice sessions’ for tenants designed to bully them into the private sector.
All wrapped up in the extraordinary and totally unsupported claim that this has something to do with ‘tenant empowerment’
(Tenant Empowerment: What the new regulatory regime must deliver, New Local Government Network, October 2008).
The author of the report is a director of Pinnacle - a profit-making company which argued in 2006 that security of tenure should be
taken away so that companies like Pinnacle could benefit from increased land values on our estates (see history below).
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Attacks on the unique 'secure' tenancies that council tenants won in 1979 after a determined campaign are never far away.
Those who are opposed in principle to high quality public services available to all and who want everyone forced into the hands of the private market are determined to undermine and
weaken the position of council tenants. Stigmatising council housing as 'housing of last resort' is one method. Trying to take
away our 'secure' tenancies or impose means testing or time limits is another.
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"If an individuals circumstances have improved, and have changed in a sustained way, we would suggest that it is
right and fair that there is a menu of options to choose from, but that the existing terms and conditions are not an option:
· Advice and support to unlock LCHO options (see following recommendations on this), including savings
support (which should be aligned with any model provided to tenants in the private rented sector and people
saving for their first home).
· Advice about private rental options.
· Advice about full ownership.
· A change of conditions in existing home – e.g. rent increase towards a more market level (which could be
reinvested in better services or more homes) if the individual does not want to move or pursue other options.
Any such change would need to have an appropriate taper so as not to provide a disincentive for individuals to
seek employment or improve their circumstances and would naturally need to be aligned so that it is cost
neutral with regards housing benefit. As the HRA review is underway, this could be a timely opportunity to
revisit rents’ policies more widely.
Existing tenants
We recognise that there it would not necessarily be possible to put these measures in place on a statutory basis in
relation to existing tenancies, but they could be implemented for all new lets and re-lets. This would create a two
tier system for some time as existing social tenants end their tenancies or move to new agreements. However, it is
possible to help existing tenants to make progress – offering the same support system as is available to new
tenants. It is also possible to make good use of customer insight and use this to make appropriate offers."
(Rethinking Housing, page 22-23, CIH October 2008)
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In the name of 'choice' the CIH joins government in driving people into home ownership and is looking for legislation to change tenancy conditions
and use the Review of Council Housing Finance to push council rents up to the level of market rents to achive this goal.
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In July 2006 the Smith Institute published a pamphlet Rethinking Social Housing
which argued all social housing encouraged dependancy and so tenants should be forced into the private market by introducing means testing
and time limits on secure tenancies.
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On 13 Feb 2007 Secretary of State Ruth Kelly followed up with a Fabian
'The Future of Housing Policy' Lecture
talking about 'helping' tenants into home ownership by giving us "10% stakes".
(Defend Council Housing slams Ruth Kelly's speech).
The speech was deliberately timed a week before Professor John Hills was due to publish the results of his 'Review of Social Housing'.
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On 20 February 2007 Professor John Hills published his Ends & Means report on the ‘Role of Social Housing’.
To his credit he refused to recommend an end to 'secure' tenancies. See DCH's response to the Hills report.
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In February 2008, almost exactly a year after Ruth Kelly's lecture, Housing Minister Caroline Flint gave a Fabian Lecture
We must break link between council housing and worklessness
calling for tenants to sign up to 'commitment contracts'
(Council tenants condemn Flint's statement).
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See DCH's response to John Hills'
Ends & Means report in Feb 2007.
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Kate Davies, Centre for Social Justice
02/12/08
CIG
21/10/08
CIH
07/10/08
Ian Keys, NLGN
01/10/08
DWP
26/08/08
JRF
02/07/08
JRF
02/07/08
CCHPR
27/05/08
Citizens Advice Bureau
21/05/08
DWP
01/05/08
Caroline Flint, Fabian Society Lecture
05/02/08
Caroline Flint, C:G
05/02/08
Human City Institute
30/11/07
The Scottish Government,
31/10/07
Shelter
06/07/07
Prof John Hills, Case, LSE
20/02/07
Ruth Kelly, Fabian Society Lecture
14/02/07
Smith Institute
20/07/06
Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research
31/03/06
Tower Hamlets Law Centre
01/06/05
Jan Luba, L&T Rev
01/01/00
01/01/00, IPPR
19/01/00
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