Blog 21st March 2017

Blog 21st March 2017

Last week we launched three seminars:

• All You Want to Know about Welsh Social Housing Finance
• Developments in Local Authority Housing Finance in England
• All You Want to Know about Local Authority Finance

‘All You Want to Know about Welsh Social Housing Finance’ gives an introduction and overview of this important subject and is fully up to date with all developments. It will be held in Cardiff on 6th June 2017. It explains how local authority housing and housing association finances work in Wales and answers the following questions:

• How do the Income & Expenditure and Housing Revenue Accounts work?
• What are the recent policy developments in Welsh social housing?
• How can councils and housing associations invest in social housing?
• What are the financial opportunities for social housing in Wales?

For further information or to make a booking please click HERE

‘Developments in Local Authority Housing Finance in England’ looks in depth at current developments in local authority housing finance in England. It will be held in London on 14th June 2017 and in Leeds on 5th July 2017. It answers the following questions:

• What is the Political, Economic, Social and Technical context?
• What are the implications for local authority housing finance of the government's policies for housing and welfare?
• How will the Housing and Planning Act be implemented?
• How can councils develop effective self-financed business plans?

For further information or to make a booking please click HERE

‘All You Want to Know about Local Authority Finance’ gives an introduction and overview of this important subject and is fully up to date with all developments. It explains how local authority finances work in England and will be held in London on 27th June 2017 and Leeds on 21st November 2017. It answers the following questions:

• How do Local Government finances work?
• How does Local Government fund its capital programmes?
• What are the implications of Localism, Austerity and the Government's other reforms?
• What are the financial opportunities for local authorities?

For further information or to make a booking please click HERE

Last week Gavin Barwell MP, the Minister for Housing, was at the MIPIM property developers’ conference in Cannes, France. MIPIM stands for ‘Le marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier’. He used the opportunity to elaborate on the detail of the Housing White Paper and on the announcement in the autumn statement that the extension of the ‘right to buy’ to housing association tenants would be piloted in an English region, suggesting that this could be the West Midlands.

The new pilot is set to last for one year and will test one-for-one replacement and portability. It will also test the Voluntary Right to Buy guidance that details how the scheme will operate and has been jointly designed by housing associations, the National Housing Federation and the government.

Earlier in the month it was revealed that of the £3.5billion raised in sales receipts since discounts for local authority tenants were increased under the ‘re-invigorated right to buy’ in 2012, £0.8billion has been passed to the Treasury and £1.2billion has been used to repay council housing debts while only £1.5billion has been available to fund replacements.

My briefing paper on the Housing White paper can be downloaded from HERE

My briefing paper on the Autumn Statement 2016 can be downloaded from HERE