Reshuffle: Who’s in and who’s out of Boris Johnson’s housing team?
The rumoured reshuffle came to fruition this month, with Boris Johnson looking to “unite and level up the whole country” starting with a shake-up of his top team. This has also included a rebranding of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to showcase the Government’s commitment to the levelling up mission in the department’s title.
Enter the new Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities…
Michael Gove MP has replaced Robert Jenrick MP as Secretary of State, inheriting a range of housing policy issues to address including building safety, renters’ reform, net zero homes, planning reform, and local government capacity. Gove and the new Department will also take on the new responsibility to deliver the levelling up agenda, potentially signifying a ramping-up of activity around the concept. On appointment, Gove said his team will focus on “delivering for those overlooked families and undervalued communities across the United Kingdom”.
Gove has never held the housing brief since entering the Cabinet in 2010, but he was Shadow Minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government between 2005 and 2007 and during his bid for the Conservative leadership in 2016 Gove said:
“We need a national ambition to build hundreds of thousands of new homes a year, both private and socially-rented – led by someone who will not take no for an answer and who will push for diggers in the ground and homes for all come what may.”
The NHC will be looking out for what these ambitions will mean for the North as Gove develops his approach.
Neil O’Brien MP will also be focussing on the levelling up agenda as he becomes Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. O’Brien was previously Boris Johnson’s levelling up adviser and worked on the development of the Northern Powerhouse strategy as an adviser to George Osborne. He authored a report about levelling up last year, published by think tank Onward, in which he argues for an end to the 80:20 rule and a rebalancing of Affordable Homes Programme investment.
Yorkshire-born Andy Haldane, former Bank of England chief economist, has been appointed as head of the Government’s new levelling up taskforce. He takes up the role as a six-month secondment from his position as Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Arts. Haldane has said he looks forward to helping the Government “design and deliver an economy that works for every part of the UK”. He will report jointly to Gove and Johnson.
The levelling up white paper is expected to be published this Autumn to articulate the Government’s plans.
Kemi Badenoch MP has also joined the Department as Minister of State from her previous role as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. Badenoch also remains Minister for Equalities at the Foreign Office.
Danny Kruger MP has announced on Twitter that he has been appointed as Gove’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, this is yet to be confirmed by the Department at the time of writing. Kruger led a government-commissioned review of civil society last year as a response to the “volunteering and community spirit” seen during the first lockdown of the pandemic.
Christopher Pincher MP (Minister of State for Housing), Eddie Hughes MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing and Rough Sleeping) and Lord Greenhalgh (Minister of State) all remain in their posts in the newly named department. Luke Hall MP, previously Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government at MHCLG, has returned to the backbenches.
Over at BEIS where the responsibilities for energy efficiency, clean heat and fuel poverty lie, Kwasi Kwarteng MP remains Secretary of State, and Lord Callanan (Minister for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility), who attended a roundtable with some NHC members recently, also remains in post. Berwick-upon-Tweed MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan has been moved from her role at BEIS to become Secretary of State for International Trade. Greg Hands MP, previously Minister of State for Trade Policy, has taken up Trevelyan’s role at BEIS.
Another Northern MP involved in the reshuffle is Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who has been appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Clarke was previously a Minister at MHCLG before his resignation in September 2020. Clarke is also a former Vice Chair of the APPG for Housing in the North (2017-2019) of which the NHC acts as Secretariat.
The NHC will be watching the new Department closely to see how they bring together housing in the North with the levelling up agenda – we have already reached out to the new team to arrange to discuss our members’ priorities with them. We will keep you updated with our engagement.
Members can hear directly from both Kwasi Kwarteng MP and Eddie Hughes MP at the Northern Housing Summit 2021 in November.
You can see the full ministerial list across government departments here.
Northern Housing Consortium Heads to Milan (Online) for Pre-COP26 Event
The Northern Housing Consortium will head to Milan this week, albeit virtually, to showcase the Social Housing Tenants’ Jury at All4Climate – Italy 2021.
The series of events forms part of Italy’s work in their role as joint-Presidents of COP26, the United Nations climate summit taking place in Glasgow this November. Convened by the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transition, All4Climate aims to bring together climate champions around the world to foster proactive dialogue on the challenges of the climate crisis and deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
As part of the official program of roundtables, the NHC and partners involved in the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury will hold a meeting offering a first look at the project which placed tenants at the centre of answering the question “how can tenants’, landlords, and others work together to tackle climate change in our homes and neighbourhoods”.
Over the last ten weeks the Jury, a collection of 30 residents reflecting the diversity of the social housing sector, have heard from experts and discussed together a broad range of climate and retrofit issues to produce a series of recommendations to the sector. It is anticipated that these recommendations will put forward tenant views on renewable heating technology, the cost of retrofit and managing disruption, education and communication, and tackling climate change at a neighbourhood level.
Given All4Climate’s focus on young people and driving ambition, younger members of the Jury will join attendees to discuss their experience of the project. All are welcome to join the conversation and we hope the session will be of interest to both officers and residents looking to better understand how we can bring together the climate and tenant engagement agendas.
To complete the session, like-minded organisations will join those from the Jury project to discuss their work empowering young people to have their voice heard in their local areas. Increasing the agency of young people to tackle inequality, address the climate crisis, and build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.
The event is free to attend and you an register your attendance here:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gU199FKXQlWZBUijiBHQxQ
More information on the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury, including recordings of presentations given by expert commentators, can be found here:
https://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/the-social-housing-tenants-climate-jury/
All4Climate – Italy 2021 is convened by the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transition in collaboration with the World Bank Group’s Connect4Climate and with the participation of the Lombardy Region and the Municipality of Milan. All4Climate aims to foster proactive dialogue on the challenges of the climate crisis and deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
More information on All4Climate can be found here:
Tackling and Preventing Homelessness – The role of the sector
By Molly Bishop, Strategic Lead for Homelessness, GMCA
As perfect storms go, we are in the middle of a pretty big one when it comes to tackling homelessness. The compound impacts of lifting protective COVID-19 policies relating to furlough, Universal Credit and Local Housing Allowance, deepening of Local Authorities’ lucky-dip bidding relationship with Central Government, and dare I say it, Brexit, are staking up against low-income households maintaining the essentials of a healthy life with a safe and suitable place to call home.
It is at this pivotal moment that the report of the Sir Bob Kerslake Commission on ‘Everyone In’ lands. It asks what went well through the COVID-19 response to rough sleeping and what we need to next to take the next steps towards ending it. The recommendations are well considered and necessarily broad ranging. They are aimed at Central and Local Government, as well as the wider Homelessness Sector, Housing and Health Providers. It poses big questions for the coming Comprehensive Spending Review and the numerous public service transformations taking place, not least the creation on Integrated Care Systems and Reducing Re-offending reforms. We will hear directly from Sir Kerslake on the findings and essential next steps to continue to progress our work to end rough sleeping at the NHC Annual Northern Homelessness Seminar on Tuesday 5th October.
We will also have the chance to look the best practise for Housing Providers to play their part in tackling and preventing homelessness. David Bogle from Homes for Cathy will be leading a session on the key commitments that bring Housing Providers to the forefront of this work and the successes that have already been seen in his own organisation, Hightown Housing, and beyond.
With homelessness and the risk of homelessness rising, and the gains to reduce rough sleeping looking increasingly shaky, the conversation on the 5th of October is not one to be missed!
Full details of the seminar and to book your place click here.
NHC Business Improvement Services
As we move to a new phase of post lockdown working, many organisations are looking to learn the lessons from the lockdown period. Many of the initiatives and changes to ways of working adopted to deliver services at the height of the pandemic are now part of the way we operate.
Our Business Improvement Services team can help you evaluate service delivery, look at what’s working (and what isn’t) and embed the changes made. We can assist across a range of services and working practices including
- Voids and allocations
- Repairs and Maintenance
- Asset management
- Effects of hybrid/ remote working
- Change management
If you are interested, please contact our Head of Business Improvement, Nigel Johnston on 0191 566 1007 or by email nigel.johnston@northern-consortium.org.uk
Why we joined the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury – Partner views
With the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury reaching its halfway point. NHC members and project partners First Choice Homes Oldham, Karbon Homes, Salix Homes, Thirteen Group, and Yorkshire Housing discuss why they got involved, their sustainability journey, and the importance of tenant interaction on climate change.
Paul Fiddaman – Chief Executive, Karbon Homes
“It’s been a real pleasure to get involved in the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury and I’m delighted that a number of our residents are playing their part in this first of its kind approach. Sessions are now well under way and we’ve received lots of positive feedback from residents on the progress that is being made so far.
This Climate Jury is part of what is set to be an exciting yet challenging journey, not just for individual landlords but for the sector as a whole.
Decarbonising our homes is an essential part of tackling climate change and as housing providers we play a vital role in this mission. However, for the work we do to be positive and valued, it’s important that we don’t just steam ahead with what we think is best, but that we work alongside our customers to make sure the solutions we provide meet their needs and aspirations.
The climate jury is a fantastic means of achieving this, keeping the customer at the heart of the work and embedding their voice into how the sector tackles climate change and achieves the net zero target.
I would like to thank the team at the Northern Housing Consortium and Shared Futures for inviting us on this journey with them and I look forward to following the progress of the jury and hearing the final recommendations presented at the NHC Summit later this year.”
Donna Cezair – CEO of First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO)
“This is a very exciting time for our sector. Housing associations have a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of the country’s work to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. By upgrading social homes to be more energy efficient and exploring more sustainable ways of working, we and other RPs can make a significant difference to our tenants and communities now and in the future.”
“At FCHO we are in the early stages of our sustainability journey, but we know that decarbonising homes is crucial for tackling climate change and delivering lots of other important benefits – from helping tenants to save money, reducing fuel poverty and providing quality homes that are fit for the future to boosting the economy and creating jobs too. We are absolutely committed to achieving this and have recently launched our Sustainability Strategy – our roadmap to providing sustainable and affordable homes for our tenants and minimising our environmental impact. We are implementing greener ways of working, including cutting the carbon footprint of our existing and new homes, boosting biodiversity in neighbourhoods, swapping petrol powered machinery for battery operated options, and upgrading our van fleet to more sustainable vehicles among other things. But we know that there’s much more work for us all to do and those who live in our homes must be at the heart of this, which is why the social housing tenants’ jury is so important and why we are so pleased our tenants are involved.
“I am delighted to be working with other RPs across the north of England and to see our tenants and their peers engaged and passionate about sustainability – they can really make a difference. The jurors’ views will not only shape our work here at FCHO and in Oldham, but they will influence policy in the wider housing sector and I’m excited to see the outcomes of their work.”
Sue Sutton – Chief Executive, Salix Homes
“Climate change is amongst the most pressing issues facing the world as we know it and the housing sector has got a huge mountain to climb in order to meet the Government’s Net Zero targets.”
“Here at Salix Homes, we’re passionate about the ‘customer voice’ and truly believe in the importance of listening to our customers, which is why we were so keen to get involved with the Social Housing Tenants Climate Jury, which firmly places residents at the centre of the green home upgrade journey, right from the start.
“We know that delivering green retrofits is not going to be an easy task – and without adequate customer engagement, effective planning, and communications, it’ll be very easy to fail. This is why we’re so proud to have customers who are part of not only the jury, but the Oversight Panel as well.
“The jury represents a new and innovative approach for the social housing sector and we’re incredibly proud to be there at the start of this journey to Net Zero, alongside the other jury partners in the North.
“The outcomes of the jury will inform our own Asset Management and Green Strategies, and as a sector, it’s essential we listen carefully to the recommendations of the jury, consider what it means for our industry, champion their views and ensure we continue to put our customers front and centre of our green journeys.”
Samantha Granger, head of environmental sustainability, Thirteen
“At Thirteen, our customers are at the heart of everything we do, so we’re proud to be a part of the first Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury. It’s a fantastic opportunity to work together and gain essential insight from customers across the region.”
“As an organisation, we’re committed to reducing our negative impact on the environment and within the housing sector we all have such an important part to play in tackling climate change together.
“We wanted to be a part of the Tenants’ Climate Jury to not only ensure that our customers had a voice, but because we recognise the value in having a collaborative approach to the whole agenda.
“When we launched Thirteen’s take control campaign, which sets out our ambitions to reduce our carbon footprint and become a much greener organisation, we did this with our customers in mind. Whatever we set out to do will beneficial for them.
“By listening and understanding what our customers tell us will ensure they are on the journey with us. We want to understand how customers feel and what matters to them.”
“Retrofitting homes is a challenge and one which everyone is facing. This is about looking at what needs to be done to deliver sustainable homes which are fit for the future and that are right for our customers.”
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Resources are available on the NHC’s website here.
For further details contact Liam Gregson, Member Engagement Manager, NHC
Has lockdown changed our view of what we need from housing-led regeneration
Anna Seddon – Policy and Public Affairs Officer, NHC
Many of us over the last 18 months have built a different relationship with our local area which has led to changed expectations of ‘home’. I know that for me, the pandemic has made it much clearer that I expect ‘home’ to be safe, secure, sustainable, and connected to the wider area. For regeneration schemes to be successful in the future, these renewed expectations for high-quality homes in thriving areas that are resilient to future crises must be accounted for.
The pandemic has spotlighted the condition of our homes and our local areas which presents a golden opportunity to drive improvements in the spaces in which we live. We know that good-quality housing is fundamental to the social, environmental, and economic health of communities; improving the quality of existing homes in the North was central to the Commission on Housing in the North’s recommendations to revitalise places in the region. Housing renewal and wider regeneration schemes must now factor in our changed expectations to maximise potential benefits and ensure no one is left out of accessing these.
With new ways of working becoming more established and an increase in the number of people working from home, local areas have become places of work and leisure. Access to local green spaces, good local services and a warm, safe home have never been more critical. Like many others now without a daily commute, I’m spending more time in the area I live in Newcastle, and appreciating being near a large public park more than I ever have, especially being without private outdoor space. The pandemic has created new demands on local places as we spend more time (and often more cash) within them and it has broadened our ambitions for thriving, sustainable places.
Though post-pandemic planning should not be reduced to the redesigning of places for those who now work at home more often than they used to. ONS data shows that a quarter of workers worked from home at some point in 2019, this figure rose to around a third in 2020. While this increase is significant, homeworkers still only account for a small proportion of working age adults and the figures for some Northern towns were the lowest in England, with as few as 14% of employees in some areas having ever worked from home. Infrastructure to make life easier for those employed in sectors such as healthcare, construction, retail and hospitality must also be at the forefront of planning, such as increasing good, green transport links.
It’s five years since the publication of the Commission for Housing in the North’s report and we have a real opportunity to reshape communities into fairer and greener places for everyone. Underpinning the housing-led renewal of our local areas must be the commitment to a fair transition to a zero-carbon future. Housing’s role in this will be to deliver a neighbourhood-based approach to increase the energy efficiency of homes and manage the shift away from gas boilers to decarbonised heat to reduce emissions and improve housing quality in the North.
Renewing places across the region will also involve working with communities to support local businesses and encourage the spread of consumer spend, develop clean and integrated public transport, and invest in accessible green spaces and walking/cycling paths. This would reduce economic isolation and create more attractive places for mixed, sustainable communities to live.
Understanding and responding to altered expectations of housing will be fundamental to how cities and towns across the North adapt. We know a one-size-fits-all approach to post-Covid regeneration will not be sufficient to address challenges across the North, but a good starting point would be to connect our new relationships with ‘home’ to our response to the climate crisis, ensuring everyone has access to the benefits generated from the transition to net zero.
Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury Progresses Over Summer
Since late July the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury has been meeting, hearing evidence and deliberating together to answer the question ‘How Can Tenants, Landlords, and Others Work Together to Tackle Climate Change in Our Homes and Neighbourhoods’.
Although the Jury’s recommendations, part of a final report detailing their work, will be launched at the Northern Housing Summit in November, NHC members are able to follow the Jury’s progress on the NHC’s dedicated webpage. This includes recorded presentations from invited expert commentators.
Resource Overview
Session 1 – Welcome and Setting the Scene
In Session One the Jury completed the onboarding process with an evening dedicated to getting to know each other and the Shared Future team facilitating the Jury. An overview of the process was given and attendees developed shared principles to ensure the most was made of the Jury.
Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive, Northern Housing Consortium formally opened the Jury with brief remarks as to why the NHC alongside partners First Choice Homes Oldham, Karbon Homes, Salix Homes, Thirteen Group, and Yorkshire Housing, decided to establish the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury.
Session 2 & 3 – An introduction to the science of Climate Change, it’s Causes, and Impacts
Early sessions of the Jury were used to establish a baseline of knowledge around climate change. This began with a presentation by Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, the current Chair and Founding Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.
Other speakers, including academics and practitioners, spoke to the Jury around the impact of climate change, the various sources of carbon emissions – ranging from energy, industry, agriculture and food, transport, as well as forestry and land use, and the specific contribution housing makes through domestic carbon emissions.
Session 4 & 5 – Housing Retrofit: What does it mean for the Tenant, Landlord, Environment, and Wider Society
From Session 4 the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury, the Jury began to narrow its focus from the wider implications of Climate Change science to housing retrofit and the processes and technology involved.
In addition to offering an overview of the kinds of interventions and renewable heating technologies that may become commonplace, invited commentators were asked to focus on the tangible impacts on tenants lives; visible changes to the home, the size of various types of renewable heating technology and where they are positioned on the property, how long it takes to install and any complications that might arise, and what could be expected in living in a retrofitted home.
In addition to commentators, the Jury also held a series of informal discussions with tenants who have experience of having their home retrofitted to understand the tenant experience first-hand.
Next Steps
The Jury recently met to reflect on their work to date and identify key issues they felt warranted further scrutiny and collate questions they felt remained unanswered. These will form the basis of future sessions as the Jury gradually turn towards developing their recommendations as to how tenants, social housing providers, and others can work together to tackle climate change in our homes and neighbourhoods.
Recordings of invited commentators can be found on the Jury’s dedicated webpage:
http://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/the-social-housing-tenants-climate-jury/jury-sessions/
The final report and recommendations of the Jury will be launched at the NHC’s flagship Northern Housing Summit taking place the 2nd and 4th November. NHC members can confirm their attendance, and non-members can purchase a ticket to the event via MyNHC:
https://www.mynhc.org.uk/event/general?id=Northern_Housing_Summit_2021190140910
First of its kind Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury meets tonight
The north of England’s first tenants’ climate jury will host its inaugural session tonight.
The Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury is made up of 30 tenants from project partners First Choice Homes Oldham, Karbon Homes, Salix Homes, Thirteen Group, and Yorkshire Housing.
The project is being led by the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC), which represents the views of housing organisations in the North of England, and overseen by an independent panel.
The jury will consider how residents, social landlords and others can work together to tackle climate change in homes and neighbourhoods. It will make recommendations to the social housing sector on how tenants would like to see landlords approach the net zero challenge.
Shared Future, one of the UK’s leading experts in organising citizens’ juries, will be facilitating and running the sessions.
The jurors, selected to reflect the diversity of the social housing sector and holding varying opinions on climate change, will meet for 30 hours over ten jury sessions ending in the Autumn.
Jury sessions will be used to explore both climate science and impacts and the way climate change can be addressed at a local level. Jurors will hear from a series of invited experts, take part in group discussion, and work together with facilitators to develop recommendations.
NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said: ‘With over 1 million social rented sector homes across the North requiring green upgrades, the scale of the challenge to transition to net zero is clear.
“Councils and housing associations are ready to rise to this challenge, but these are people’s homes first and foremost, and so we cannot succeed in doing this without talking with our tenants, understanding their concerns and motivations, and listening and acting upon their recommendations.”
The final report and recommendations of the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury will be launched at the NHC’s Northern Housing Summit in November.
Each session will be recorded and members of the public will be able to watch these videos on the Northern Housing Consortium’s webpage on the Tenants’ Jury.
