Hackney council offering shared ownership flats
From: http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/affordable/hackney-and-camden-councils-are-first-provide-affordable-new-homes Hackney Council are one of the first to be building affordable housing / shared ownership flats, which is something they weren’t previously allowed to do.
marty21
It’s a good move by Hackney (and Camden) I’ve never understood why Local Authorities weren’t allowed (or chose not to) to get involved with Shared Ownership before.
ewebber
@marty21 I am struggling with the idea that the housing association that own my block aren’t transparent and they are not subject to freedom of information requests. e.g. we have been charged for damage that has been attributed to rats, but when I ask to see the contract that they have with pest control that makes up part of my service charge, I’m told it’s not public. If they were a public body I could have access to this information. @robbieds would be good to get your thoughts
robbieds
I definitely think Housing Associations should have FOI apply to them. I think they will sooner or later, as Eric Pickles is hell bent on it. For my money, I think the shared ownership model could and should play a bigger role in meeting housing need, especially in bananas expensive markets like ours where there’s basically no facility for people on average (and above!) income to live here – social housing will always go to most vulnerable, and I calculated you’d need to earn at least £250k to afford a 3 bed house in Clapton. I wrote about its role in making inner London communities more cohesive here and wrote a big report on the reforms needed to the model here.”
ewebber
@robbieds thanks, I’ll take a look.
benjamin
@ewebber @robbieds Sorry, I’m baffled. Is it really true that Housing Associations can bill their tenants for maintenance costs but the tenants have no right to know how, or even if, their money is being spent?!If so it seems a model designed to encourage fraud and corruption. Seems so fundamentally unfair, I’m surprised it’s legal.
ewebber
@benjamin yes, it’s an answer I have been told by the housing association I pay service and maintenance to on a number of occasions, including asking for stats when questioning them why they are failing to reach their own published service level agreements. It makes absolutely no sense to me and it’s very frustrating.
benjamin
@ewebber I guess you’re in for a long battle. I’ve found Diane Abbott helpful in the past. Good luck.
ewebber
@benjamin 7 years and counting…. it’s a full time job (on top of my own full time job). I will ping Diane Abbot once I have a chance to pick it up again