How will the refugees be housed in Britain?

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/17/bishops-rebuke-cameron-over-refugees

Except the principles had changed dramatically from when Parker Morris standards were dropped and from when Thatcher told the councils to sell off their council houses and they were not allowed to use the money to build new ones.
Or so I understood from my husband who was an architect who designed local authority and housing association housing at various times in his career.

I understood that housing associations took over responsibility for social housing from local authorities, including the building of houses.
A change of overseeing body but with the same principles.

Or so I understood from a friend who was Head of a LA housing department then in charge of its transition to Housing Association before his retirement.

It works without the ^ at the end.
www.gov.uk/government/news/councils-can-do-their-bit-to-get-britain-building

Yes, it does say that "This news article was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government" so you will probably think that it is all lies - but they can hardly lie about the councils keeping all their housing and land-sale revenues from 2012 "giving them the freedom to invest them in building new homes." so it is no longer true (I don't know whether it ever was) that "Councils have not been allowed to build council houses for years" and at 9 October 2014 22 councils had applied for loans for housebuilding, with, presumably, others following suit since then.

In between the Thatcher push to sell houses to sitting tenants and the 2012 change to allow the sales money to be used to build new ones, was there any government move to make the change earlier?

Sorry, number, not amount. I thought it was in percentages, but it's in number of houses built.

Elegran, your link to the Gov.uk site does not work, but your other link shows perfectly what I mean.
Have a look at the graph which shows the amount of social and local authority housing. Local authority housing is almost non-existent.
There is a difference between social housing and council housing.

Rosequartz - a relative of ours, married and with a baby on the way at the time, applied for one of these houses in the village where he and his wife had lived in private rented accommodation for many years. They lost out to someone who had just sold his previous house and by all accounts could well afford to buy on the open market at full market value. How these properties are allocated seems to be something of a mystery.

As for the genuine affordability of so-called 'affordable housing', I suggest anyone who thinks that it is aimed at the poor / low-paid should have a look at this Guardian article from last year:
www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2014/feb/03/affordable-housing-meaning-rent-social-housing

Sorry - as the OP, even I am straying off-topic!

But who exactly are 'the poor'?

One young woman we know, on the housing list and in desperate need, failed to get one of the houses mentioned in my post above, even though they were allegedly designated for people living in the village 'in desperate need'.
We don't know how they were allocated.
Thankfully she and her young son have now been allocated an older house in the village.

I would contradict you, durhamjen, in your claim that councils are not allowed to build any more council houses. They were not allowed to ring-fence the money gained by selling off houses to sitting tenants, but there is no ban on them building new ones. There was a steep dip in the rate of new-builds by councils, but it is starting to rise again.

In fact, "In 2012, the government changed the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system so councils keep all the rents they collect from their homes, and all receipts from any sales of houses or land, giving them the freedom to invest them in building new homes."

And in 2014 "Housing Minister Brandon Lewis today (9 October 2014) announced new powers for councils to help them build new affordable homes across the country.

The minister confirmed that 22 councils will be able to borrow an additional £122 million over the next 2 years to deliver over 1,700 new affordable homes and support local growth.

But with £178 million still up for grabs, Mr Lewis argued that more councils should be putting themselves forward – especially as many have asked for the very borrowing powers that are being offered."
www.gov.uk/government/news/councils-can-do-their-bit-to-get-britain-building^

and Account of the history of sociall housing, with graphs

Lots of new building in my area , hundreds and hundreds of houses ( over 400 built so far with another 700 to come starting next year) in our village alone, doubling the population, and many more in the surrounding small towns/villages.Affordable housing/ housing association houses included.

DS lives in a village, they bought their (older) house. It doesn't have a garage or a parking space either.

The new social housing along the road has two parking spaces per house and some very nice cars parked there, including a couple of 4x4s.

They were planning affordable housing in the village here. The plans showed houses that had no garage or car parking space. Presumably the designers had omitted to notice that this is a village without public transport, so none of the residents would be able to get to work! Or perhaps the poor are not supposed to have cars, or to work!

They were never built.

Yes, ethel private builders have to include a set proportion of social housing (known as 'affordable housing) with every new estate they build.
Perhaps laudable, perhaps a form of social engineering instigated by John Prescott, he who had so many 'good ideas' about how the rest of us should live.

Thanks rosequartz.

soon Housing associations took over responsibility from councils for providing low cost housing for people. They are non-profit making, any surplus goes into providing new houses as well as maintenance and improvements on existing stock. Many near us have had solar roof panels fitted.
They may also run 'shared ownership' schemes.

I don't understand why there is such a lack of housing and complaints that no building of new houses is going on, because wherever we go we see more and more building of new estates.
If some (and certainly not most of those we have seen) are more expensive houses, then the purchase of those should in theory release cheaper housing as people 'trade up'.

We have had 9 council houses built in 4 years. Whoo hoo

Social housing, built by housing associations, but not council housing.

there have been quite a few new estates in the north east and they are building more, some are 'social housing' in the middle of private new builds and some are just on council estates. Most are adapted for the disabled and have phone lines, internet, solar panels and lovely fitted kitchens but as Ive said above they only appeal to those on benefit or those seeking to buy in the future.

Councils have not been allowed to build council houses for years, soon, but carry on wasting your time. They do not have the money.
By the way, it's number, not amount.

Out of interest, how many new council houses have been built where you are, in say the last 10 years?

I am off to google the amount for where I live. I dont think I have seen any for years.

The problem with building houses is that the new ones are too expensive and the rented ones are too high in rent which means that unless you are on benefits you cannot afford them, if you get work then the rent is so high that it takes up too much of your take home pay. In my area newer council houses are all becoming ghettos with very few people working. If someone gets a job it is easier to buy a house which means more families on benefit move in. I see whole streets with single parents.

That's why we need a building programme ethelbags1. I'm not disputing there's a housing crisis but that shouldn't stop the UK responding compassionately to people who are homeless because the fled for their lives

the immigrants will be housed in local authority housing that ordinary people are waiting for and pushing up the waiting lists even more

Will not need that many homes, Nellie, not if we are only getting 20,000 over five years.

However, the government dept will be working flat out just now on how best to accommodate them, so we shall have to wait and see what happens.