September 2012 (Issue 52)

August is widely regarded as the silly season by the media.

It’s a month when most of the country is on holiday, politicians are taking a well-earned break and journalists are forced to scratch around for news. Last year, the National Housing
Federation took advantage of this lull to release its Home Truths report exposing the extent of the UK’s housing crisis. A grateful media lapped it up and, possibly for the first time ever, housing topped the news agenda. One year on, and David Cameron’s favourite think-tank Policy Exchange repeated the trick – albeit with a somewhat different slant on the housing crisis.

Rather than the Fed’s call for government money to kickstart an affordable housebuilding drive, Policy Exchange suggested selling off the country’s most pricey social housing stock (usually located in affluent towns and cities) and using the cash to build cheaper social housing in cheaper areas where poor people would feel more at home.

On a busy news day, the think-tank’s kite-flying may have received a mention on Radio 4’s Today programme but would not have been touched by the likes of Sky. Incredibly, however, it was among the top three stories on every news channel and was actually the lead item on the BBC’s Newsnight.

Many would argue that any coverage of housing by the mainstream media ought to be welcomed but in this instance I disagree. What the Policy Exchange report actually achieved was to underline the popular view that the country’s social housing stock is being mismanaged by councils and housing associations and homes worth in excess of £1 million are being dished out to undeserving people when thousands of hard-working British families are languishing on waiting lists.

To me, the Policy Exchange report was merely the latest in a series of attacks on the sector. The work of Councillor Harry Phibbs – remember the name, you’ll never forget his face – is a case in point. Blogging on the Conservative Home website, Phibbs is currently on a one man crusade to expose social housing bodies as giant sponges happy to soak up taxpayers’ money for nebulous training courses, conferences and awards. For those that know better, some of what he writes is comedy gold but the danger is – like Policy Exchange – there are many out there who accept his every word and two organisations, namely the CIH and TPAS, have been forced to publish rebuttals.

Meanwhile, the previously mentioned National Housing Federation receives a slightly more generous appraisal in our cover feature this month. That’s not to say David Orr gets off lightly, however, as we send former Federation staffer Brian Church to interview him about the future of both the organisation and the housing sector in general ahead of its annual conference.

Jon Land
Editor
24housing Magazine