Housing

Husbands and wives grow apart and no longer want to share a bed. Young people leave home and come back battered and scared when it all goes wrong. Grandparents provide more support for grand children whose parents are only just coping. We put up young people who are our children's friends - and a long weekend turns into three months. The children of a first marriage choose to spend more time than originally planned with the absent parent. And so it goes on. The point of family life is that it adapts, supports and flexes. For most of us this is a purely private matter.

The National Planning Policy Framework published on Tuesday has been generally welcomed by many of those who were most critical of last year's draft but local authorities still don't have any real incentives to offer the Nimbys.

Budget 2012 was a bit of an anti-climax. And it was more focussed on the squeezed middle than the pinched bottom.

Raising the income tax threshold mostly benefits middle-income families, apart from those sucked into the higher rate. But it does give everyone something: so while it might be relatively inefficient way to go about it, it does help those on the lowest incomes.

The UK not only needs to build many more and better homes, but also to build communities that last.

The zero carbon debate has been gathering momentum since the new definition of 'true' zero carbon was announced in the April 2011 budget statement.

For those involved in the industry, regardless of definitions and statements about what zero carbon means on paper, the biggest concern is how this translates into practice, from the designed 'predicted' performance, to the as-built 'actual' performance.

As the financial squeeze bites and the threat of a double dip recession looms two new JRF publications illustrate the scale of the challenge faced by policy-makers and politicians in Wales.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies report warns of a significant increase in child poverty and decline in real median household incomes across the UK, not least due to the direct impact of the UK tax and benefit reforms.

I was really pleased that a JRHT property became the 100th SuperHome last week. But what are SuperHomes? Does it have something to do with Kryptonite and saving the planet?

Let me explain. The SuperHome project is about demonstrating what can be done to reduce carbon emissions within the UK's existing housing stock. It involves real people who are living in real homes where improvements have resulted in a reduction of carbon emissions by 60 per cent or more. 67 Temple Avenue in York is one of those homes.

When it comes to migration, anyone doubting the importance of local leadership, and particularly leadership by housing providers, need only look at last week's news. On Monday, Migration Watch released a briefing about migrants and social housing, raising serious concerns about the impact of migration on the social housing system in the UK.

There are not enough homes in the right place at the right price for the people who need them – so how are we going to house the next generation?

"The intended abolition of regional spatial planning strategies leaves a vacuum at the heart of the English planning system which could have profound social, economic and environmental consequences set to last for many years."

So concluded the all-party Communities and Local Government Committee in their report on the abolition of spatial planning strategies.