It’s been a busy time for social housing news and legislation. Five years after the Grenfell Tower fire and two weeks since Prince Charles’ delivery of the Queen’s Speech, the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill came to the new Parliament. The Bill was presented to the House of Lords by Lord Greenhalgh, and the Second Reading is scheduled for 27^th June.

Communities that Work welcomes new member: BME London Landlords

We’re delighted to announce that BME London Landlords has joined Communities that Work. BME London Landlords (14) members collaborate to optimise impact, improving and advocating for better services provided to their residents and wider BME communities.

BME London Landlords is also one of the key names behind the Social Housing Anti-Racism Pledge (SHARP). Developed in partnership with BME National and The Housing Diversity Network, the SHARP initiative calls on all registered social landlords to adopt an anti-racist stance by adopting a clear policy that states their organisation is anti-racist.

Go the distance on UKSPF:

UKSPF Investment Plans are now in the drafting process. Whilst lead authorities don’t have too long to draft these (deadline 1^st August) and need to ‘go fast’, they also need to create credible three-year plans and show partnerships to unlock their funding, to prove they can ‘go far’. It’s these dual priorities that UKSPF leads are dealing with, and the social housing sector must quickly stake a claim to be named in local investment plans.

UKSPF Framework hatches!

Even UKGov accepts that Spring has arrived, and with it, the UKSPF Framework promised in this season is now out.

Published during the pre-election period (purdah) in the run-up to local elections on 5^th May, perhaps DLUHC is hoping that local funding news, delivered by local authorities, will translate to votes at the ballot box. Maybe not, and DLUHC simply knew that they had to get this guidance out without further delay to give UKSPF lead authorities a fighting chance to get plans together to spend the funds this year at all.

We know that issues on the governance of UKSPF in Scotland and Wales were causing delays on UKSPF at DLUHC, and whilst there is still much to argue about, we have at last the core information needed to start to plan UKSPF in England.

Can ‘Levelling Up’ policies change the prevailing tide of UK society that’s been rolling since World War 2?

With the UKSPF Framework still not published - the Government says it’s coming ‘in Spring’, which could be next week, could be after the 5^th May local elections, could be 1^st June – how is the levelling up project faring so far?

Communities that Work meets the Minister for Welfare Delivery, David Rutley MP:

“You should be proud of what you’re doing and what you’re achieving.”

Last week, Communities that Work were invited to meet the (relatively) new Minister for Welfare Delivery, David Rutley MP. We didn’t go alone. Joined by a cross-section of our members from across the country, we delivered a rapid overview of the fantastic work social housing does to support people into work and the support given to people on Universal Credit.