Welfare Reform is 'greatest challenge to housing sector' - new CIH president

Published by Julien Tremblin for 24dash.com in Housing

The Welfare Reform presents the 'greatest challenge' to the housing sector, according to the president of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).

Speaking at the CIH’s annual Presidential Dinner last night, Robin Lawler called for a “huge collective capacity to cope with the Reform’s effects on UK households".

He said: “Misplaced assumptions about who benefits from welfare, who should benefit and the role of the state, has deflected from the real issue that is the significant challenge thousands of households face in accessing and retaining affordable, good quality housing.”

In a few days, the contested Welfare Reform Bill is to go before the House of Lords again and will soon receive Royal Assent.

The Bill has suffered seven defeats in the Lords but their amendments have been overturned by the Government. It is now invoking financial privilege which will prevent the Lords from overruling MPs on matters of spending.

“Now more than ever, the most vulnerable people in society must be foremost in our minds and must be the focus of our actions," Mr Lawler said.

He has accused Government and ministers of inaccuracies regarding the state of the housing market and the likely impact of the reforms.

“How disappointing that so soon after the Prime Minister personally committed to improving England’s housing situation, ministers should (intentionally or otherwise) create unnecessary confusion around rents, mobility, and homelessness,” he said.

However, Mr Lawler congratulated the housing sector for “finding new solutions, working constructively with new powers, and continuing to get the basics right despite standing on shifting sands”.

He warned that 2012 would be an “even tougher year” and said his aims were to “make governments recognise the valuable contribution that housing makes to the economy and wellbeing of communities.”

Mr Lawler also used his speech to announce the creation of an annual Sarah Webb Lecture – the first of which will be held later this year – to commemorate the former CIH chief executive, who died last year, saying the lecture would reflect her passion and commitment to new and ‘game changing’ ideas.

The event was held at London’s Natural History Museum in presence of 550 leaders from across the housing industry. Dennis Turner, former chief economist at HSBC and director of Fulham FC, was the guest speaker at the  dinner.

In his address, he spoke about the UK economy and argued that it will likely experience a slow climb uphill throughout 2012 rather than another slide down. 

Robin Lawler has been president of the CIH since 18 January 2012. Following a recent election, Paul Tennant has been chosen as his new Vice-President.