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From the Housing Network

Reliance on private builders is fuelling UK's housing crisis

To end dramatic shortages, local authorities and non-profit organisations need to take on more housebuilding
Mutual exchange: 10 ways to help tenants swap homes

From financial incentives to flexibility, a CIH adviser provides tips on how landlords can help social housing tenants move home

Many buyers don’t like the idea of a new home – here’s why they should

New builds get a bad rap, but we’ve moved on from the small expensive boxes with paper thin walls constructed in the 80s
How to use social media to build online communities for housing residents

Yarlington Chat, an online Facebook group, helped one local housing association engage an audience of more than 3,000
How to make social housing a vote winner in the 2015 general election

Building social housing is not a toxic issue for voters, but it could be more popular still if it were available to more people, says the Fabian Society’s Rob Tinker
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How to design communities that make residents fitter and healthier

The design of neighbourhoods, offices and green spaces can help to encourage physical activity and combat obesity, says Lisa Woo
The lessons that social landlords should learn from a damning tenant survey

The Big Tenant Survey did not make good reading for social landlords. Richard Blundell explains what they ought to learn from the findings
Social tenant survey reveals extent of dissatisfaction with landlords

Majority of tenants feel their landlord does not listen to them while less than a third fully understand welfare reforms, reports Liam Kelly
Increased student numbers are worsening the housing crisis

Business is booming for student housing developers, but it’s often at the expense of families in need of affordable housing, says Colin Wiles
Housing zones policy sets tough criteria for councils that want share in funds

Hurdles local authorities must jump to secure slice of £200m pie mean initiative could struggle to encourage housebuilding
All housing network features

Homelessness is a public health crisis

Health services should check the housing status of patients, with homelessness triggering an instant full health check-up , says Rick Henderson
Fear of homelessness is the biggest worry for people leaving care

Bed and breakfasts will not cut it. We need better safety nets for the young care leavers who struggle to make ends meet
More on housing

The three housing problems that most affect your health

Poor housing costs the NHS more than £600m a year and can have devastating impact on residents' health. The National Housing Federation's Jake Eliot explains the three main factors
The repossessions timebomb: how to help homeowners at risk of default

With interest rates expected to rise and many people already struggling with housing costs, the Resolution Foundation's Katie Blacklock looks at how to help those at risk of losing their home
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Diane Jackson

The Guardian Housing Network acts as my radar for the issues that matter.

Labour architect peer says building on greenbelt 'a ridiculous idea'

Richard Rogers is a prominent adviser on cities development and says more should be done first with brownfield land
Lib Dems expand criticisms of coalition welfare policies

After siding with Labour to defeat bedroom tax motion, party takes aim at benefit sanctions as conference season approaches
'Smallest house in the world' on sale for £275k in north London

Property in Barnsbury requires owner to walk on kitchen work surface to get to bedroom
London flats 'worse than prison cells' condemned by council

London property company is charging £255 a week for 'studio apartments' as small as three metres by three metres
Bedroom tax bill splits coalition as Lib-Lab pact forces second reading

Labour MPs join with Lib Dems to defeat Tories 306 to 231 in vote on private member's bill sponsored by Andrew George

Politicians just don't understand what it's like to be a renter

The 335 MPs who rent a second home on expenses do not experience the reality of life in the private rented sector, says Dan Wilson Craw

Housing association commercialism has cost the UK 18,500 new social homes

Profits have increased tenfold but landlords are still charging tenants as much as possible and failing to build enough homes, says Calum Mercer
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Gentrification: what happens to those left behind?

When the pub becomes a wine bar and the corner shop a coffee house, residents can feel isolated in their own communities
More in depth

How housing providers can help tackle the UK's loneliness crisis

More than 7 million people live alone and 4.3 million have no close friends, but community organisations can help, says Sally Willcox

Why I love living in the Woolwich Central ‘carbuncle’

When the judges of the Carbuncle Cup named Woolwich Central the ugliest new building in Britain, one of our readers who recently bought an affordable flat there had a few things to say
Spoken Words: Deanna Rodger wants London landlords to help young renters - video

Video (2min 28sec)
Spoken word poet Deanna Rodger performs London Landlords, laying bare the problems the average 24-year-old faces when trying to rent a decent place to live in the capital
I'm on benefits - so no landlord would rent my family a house

Kirsty Jones: Negative attitudes towards people supported by benefits undermine the help that any safety net provides
More of the best new radicals

From a gravity-powered light for the developing world to cabaret nights for scientists, green gap years, coffee bio-power and more of the best bright ideas