Uk & International

The UK Government has outlined housing sector exemption measures it intends to introduce including new powers for local authorities to manage supported housing, changes to housing benefit regulations and minimum standards for support. 

Scottish charity Social Bite has launched its very first coffee shop in London. It will operate a rewarding ‘Pay-It-Forward’ system whereby customers who come in to buy a coffee or a sandwich can buy an additional meal or hot drink in advance for someone who is homeless to redeem later.

The Right to Buy in England has become a strategic failure and, unless reconsidered, will continue to generate uneven spatial and social impacts, contributing to social disadvantage and exacerbating inequalities, according to new research.

The Welsh Government has announced an increase to the maximum level of council tax premiums for second homes, as well as new local tax rules for holiday lets. The changes represent more steps taken to ensure people can find an affordable home in the place they have grown up.

The UK Government has confirmed that it will repeal the 1824 law that criminalises rough sleeping and begging in England and Wales.

A third of local authorities in England are subject to penalties to encourage development after new figures revealed they are failing to deliver an adequate number of homes.

Over 13 million people in England have no access to a local authority crisis support scheme, according to a report published today by End Furniture Poverty. The campaigning charity says there are now 32 local authorities no longer offering support with one in five English local authorities not opera

San Francisco is exploring the possibility of introducing a tax on tens of thousands of empty homes as homelessness rises with estimates of a shortage of about 160,000 homes. 

The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) has completed its first charging exercise involving homes being built using modern methods of construction (MMC) with borrower GreenSquareAccord.

Social housing residents in England will be better protected as part of a review to ensure they are listened to, according to Eddie Hughes, minister for rough sleeping and housing in England. The review on qualifications and professional training will drive up standards by making sure social housing

Peers in the House of Lords have voted in favour of an amendment to the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill to scrap the Vagrancy Act across England and Wales. Already repealed in Scotland, the 1824 legislation is still continually used to criminalise people for rough sleeping or beg

Owners of second homes in England who abuse a tax loophole by claiming their often-empty properties are holiday lets will be forced to pay under new measures announced by the UK Government today.

The UK Government has warned developers in England that they must pay to remediate unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre buildings.

Councils across England will be able to access £28 million to provide funding to both encourage people who are homeless to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and provide emergency accommodation over the winter.

New homes and buildings in England will have to produce significantly less CO2 under new rules announced by the UK Government.