Welcome to ten years ago, Institute for whatever-or-other.

Help to buy is riddled with loopholes that the privileged can easily exploit Rather than find measured and sustainable solutions to the housing crisis, the government has haphazardly built a house of cards

Dawn Foster wrote about it even earlier than the government's evaluation came out, back in 2016, when it was clear it was a bit of a macroeconomic fluff-up. www.theguardian.com/housing-netw...

Evaluation of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme Findings from the external evaluation of the Help to Buy equity loan scheme.

I remember writing about it at the time but blah blah all these moments lost in time, like tears in rain. www.gov.uk/government/p...

So weird seeing this again today. The government's own evaluation of Help To Buy in 2017 said more than half the people who took the handouts could have bought a home without it.

People forced to rely on barely-subsistence benefits are not to blame for George Robertson and his ilk not being able to profit more from the British state by selling them weapons. It's his own fault for ruining the economy for ordinary people.

Government spending on housing is billions and billions more per year than it needs to be because losers like George Robertson never built social housing when he was in government.

BBC News leading all its bulletins on demands by former Government advisor Lord Robertson for more defence spending, without at any point mentioning his current paid senior role for US defence lobbyists

well I've scanned through the references cited in & funnily enough the 2015 SHOUT Report does not feature @sheltercharity.bsky.social - our report modelled the savings to #HMTreasury of building at #SocialRent which outweighed the rising costs of PRS #HousingBenefit www.almos.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Bear/Pope analogies welcome.

Same as it ever was, same as it ever was @alisoninman.bsky.social @bushbell.bsky.social @tomemurtha.bsky.social @stevehilditch.bsky.social @simplicitly.bsky.social @lucyferman.bsky.social

I have had two nights without useful sleep, thankfully not down to this, but I did wonder if I was slightly tetchy about it through tiredness. On reflection, it's not that, it's because the whole thing was monumentally foul.

There was a property developer supporting them over on LinkedIn.

Next week’s disability cuts will make people destitute – and you might not understand how bad they are until it’s too late | Frances Ryan If new claimants don’t meet strict criteria, they’ll lose half of the health element of universal credit. Don’t ignore that: in life’s lottery, that could easily be you, says Guardian columnist France...

“That the universal credit cut will affect new claimants says the quiet part out loud: anyone can become disabled or ill. And every time governments slash the safety net, we can’t know if it’ll be us, a loved one or stranger who will fall through it.”

Today’s col www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

In my speech on the need to challenge reform at the Northern Housing Festival I questioned how his right wing views influenced his time at HE.

Yes, I saw this yesterday too. As someone else said to me, they all think they're very clever.

In case anyone was wondering why so many homes in England are built to such low quality, this guy was head of govt department Homes England.

No way does Farage not agree with his policy ideas.

People made a lot of excuses, to themselves and others, for why it wasn't their responsibility to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of others, so that they could go to the park, or whatever, but they were all fundamentally selfish excuses. The Welch/Madeley axis of indifference.

As a member of a 'most vulnerable' household at the time, our main reaction to the buffoon Johnson and his lectern sycophants was to ignore him and stay.. more isolated.. than usual. The inability of mostly healthy people to give up a little bit of 'freedom' to protect others is my main memory.

It is striking how little media appetite or interest there has been for the Covid inquiry's conclusions

Government: we're very worried about the negative effect on young people of spending too much time indoors online.

Police: if you go outdoors with your mates to celebrate spring and being off school for a couple of week you risk arrest and never getting a job.

Opinion: Don't miss this chance to get involved in a new national tenant body for social housing - HQN The long and the short of it is I've ended up doing some paid work alongside one of the groups trying to form a national tenant body. The project is going to

In this article, @simplicitly.bsky.social issues a call to action for social housing residents who would like to be involved in the formation of a new national tenant body

hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion... #ukhousing

Opinion: Don't miss this chance to get involved in a new national tenant body for social housing - HQN The long and the short of it is I've ended up doing some paid work alongside one of the groups trying to form a national tenant body. The project is going to

Opinion: Don’t miss this chance to get involved in a new national tenant body for social housing << important from @simplicitly.bsky.social hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion...

Kicking the resolution of serious issues far into the future is not new, but why have the Ministry of Housing given social (and private) landlords another 10 years on top of the 8 years they've already had to make homes 'decent'?

Opinion: In the Year Thirty Five Thirty Five. - HQN “What the living hells does this have to do with punting the responsibilities of the Decent Homes Standard another 10 years into the future?”, I hear you ask**.

In this article, @simplicitly.bsky.social contrasts the prescience of a 60s' sci-fi rock classic with the fortunes Decent Homes Standard. Honestly, he does.
hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion... #ukhousing

Another promise delivered.

Hard Agree*

Opinion: Self-regulation has failed the housing sector in the past – will it work to build homes? - HQN By Rob Gershon, HQN associate

In his latest article for HQN, @simplicitly.bsky.social looks at self-regulation in the housing sector asks: will it work to build homes?

hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion... #ukhousing

Opinion: Ding! Ground floor – patronage, soft furnishing and betrayal - HQN I want to make one thing clear at the start of this piece: the housing minister, Steve Reed, buckling once again under pressure from social landlords isn’t

Southampton man "faintly miffed" at social landlords lobbying to omit decent flooring from decent homes. (me for @hqnmedia.bsky.social) hqnetwork.co.uk/news/opinion...

Ah, a world in which you stealth-cut child benefit and heavily subsidise pet ownership. The British people demand it