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In January this year, the Regulator of Social Housing was borne out of the ashes of the Homes & Communities Agency. The new editor of Housing Association magazine, Victoria Galligan, asks: what has been done so far in 2018 to increase the number of social and affordable properties available?

There’s no doubt that demand for affordable housing has far outstripped supply, especially over the recent years of austerity. And with homes being taken out of local authority control through disposals, Right to Buy (RTB) sales and town regeneration schemes, the need for new social housing has arguably never been so high.

The Town and Country Planning Association has warned that the government’s planned expansion of permitted development will deprive local authorities of essential funding and risks creating poor living conditions for vulnerable people.

Announced in the recent autumn budget, new planning rules will give developers permission to convert high street shops into homes without first seeking planning permission, and so bypassing requirements for affordable housing, local infrastructure or minimum housing space standards.

Sir Oliver Letwin’s review aims to identify the cause of the significant gap between housing completions and the amount of land allocated or permissioned on large sites in areas of high housing demand.

The Review focuses almost entirely on large sites and volume developers overlooking best practice already carried out by SMEs.

The Letwin Review rejects criticisms of landbanking and welcomes calls from industry bodies to diversify the housing market and speed up house building on large sites.

If your first thought when you hear the words shared ownership is having to share your home with someone, you’d be forgiven. Shared ownership is a scheme set up in conjunction with a whole host of housing associations, effectively offering prospective buyers the chance to buy a share of a property, whilst the housing associations owns the rest. Buyers are then given the option to increase ownership all the way up to the full 100 percent.

Additional environmental checks are to be carried out in and around the Grenfell Tower site to provide extra reassurance to survivors and local residents.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, NHS England, Public Health England and the Environment Agency have joined forces to ensure the bereaved, survivors and wider North Kensington community receive health assurances and support.

Chancellor Phillip Hammond has announced the government’s Autumn Budget, presenting: “A budget that shows the perseverance of the British people finally paying off.” 

As local authorities called for more funding to end the housing crisis, and the Prime Minster told the country that “austerity is over”, we were expecting a budget which would boost the building of affordable and social housing in 2019/20 – and there was plenty for developers to get excited about.

The Mayor of London has announced £10 million for ambitious councils that want to boost their role in building new homes in the capital.

Building on previous positive announcements this year – small sites and SME house builder initiatives, increased transparency and engagement on publicly-owned land – the Mayor of London has announced £10 million for ambitious councils that want to boost their role in building new homes in the capital.