Happy Friday Red Brick readers! We have come across a minor technical issue as our mailing list has grown too large for us to send out our weekly newsletter, Housing Wrapped.
Until mid-October, we are going to release the newsletter on our website, and use this as an opportunity to give our non-subscribers an opportunity to see what the benefits of subscribing to Red Brick’s mailing list!
Red Brick rundown:
So, what have we been up to with Red Brick this week?
This week had a look-ahead to Labour Party Conference, with a summary of upcoming housing events, exhibitions and debates at the upcoming summit.
Housing delivery, the private rental sector, and reducing emissions from the built environment have both emerged as key themes, but building safety and leasehold issues are both absent from the agenda. Looking ahead, we will be sure to keep this at the front of our Red Brick output after Jennifer Frame’s recent piece on Grenfell.
We also had our first letter to the editor from Paul Brocklehurst, chair of the Land, Planning and Development Federation, on how government policy can deliver more affordable housing.
This was our first letter to the editor, if you want to get in touch with us be sure to reach out at [email protected]
A good week for…
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, who elected a fantastic new Labour Chair, Florence Eshalomi. Florence is experienced in housing policy, having served as a London Assembly Member and Lambeth councillor, where she worked on urban development and housing shortage issues. She also grew up in council housing. We look forward to working with Florence!
A bad week for…
Fire safety, as the latest Regulator of Social Housing quarterly survey uncovered a small increase in number of buildings with life-critical fire safety defects. There was a a 0.5% rise in the number of 11-metre-plus buildings in the social housing sector that have life-critical fire safety (LCFS) defects.
Research corner
This week’s featured report comes from the Centre for Homelessness Impact, who have published an analysis of the money spent on temporary accommodation. The report identifies a number of issues with the reliance on temporary accommodation, including the value-for-money case, concerns with quality, and a lack of national temporary accommodation strategy.
Be sure to check out the full report to read its recommendations.
Upcoming events
Thursday 26th September (12:00pm – 1:30pm) Politics in Planning (RTPI) – Online, free for RTPI members, £25 for non-members
Wednesday 9th October (12:00pm – 1:00pm) Framing numbers, statistics and the economy to talk about homes (JRF) – Online, free
Thursday 10th October (6:00pm – 7:00pm) In conversation with Dr Beth Stratford, How can we tackle extortionate rents without worsening the shortage of rental properties? (Labour Housing Group) – Online, free
Tuesday 15th October (8:30pm – 9:30pm) In conversation with John Collyns: The Older People’s Housing Crisis: Lessons from the Labour Party in New Zealand (Labour Housing Group) – Online, free
Wednesday 16th October (12:00pm – 2:00pm) UK Housing Review – Autumn briefing launch (CIH) – Online, free