Chris Bailey

Is there a limit to London's lux overpriced vacancy? In 25% vacant @RBKC seems so ..meanwhile longterm empty homes across London are up a whopping 93% since 2016 in the capital of #homelessness @moving_charlie - there's too much of the #TheWrongHousing to end our #HousingCrisis

Retirement homes sit empty while people need housing. This situation needs attention. Please consider donating to support a vital investigation. Every bit helps us make a difference. gofund.me/be8179a5

Retirement homes sit empty while people need housing. This situation needs attention. Please consider donating to support a vital investigation. Every bit helps us make a difference. gofund.me/766640e9

This is a scandal hiding in plain sight - 100s of vulnerable kids sent to illegal children's homes every year at vast public expense. This latest case reveals a system in complete crisis. My report for @TBIJ & @thetimes with @andrewellson thetimes.com/uk/crime/artic…

Anglian Water’s profits have soared by 15% to £0.5bn in the year to March 2025. The for-profit water monopoly for the East of England hiked prices by 19% as its debt swelled to £7.7bn. Anglian Water also revealed an increase in pollution incidents over the year. This is what I…

What's wrong with housing and why proposed Tenant Portal, Landlord Register and Short Lets Register need linking by UPRNs (UniquePropertyReferenceNumbers-which already exist for all UK property) Banned landlord flips to Airbnb then leases to council as TA thebristolcable.org/2025/05/bristo…

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill offers plenty of deregulatory carrot for developers – but no stick. I’m proposing: • Penalties for developers who sit on land after gaining planning permission. • Powers for councils to block developers that repeatedly fail to build.

18/11/24 Big Issue/Council tax data: One million homes are lying empty in England: empty & 2nd homes not in use: 998,784, one in every 25! Of these, 265,061 long-term empty (vacant for more than 6 months). bigissue.com/news/housing/e…

“Today, two-bedroom apartments in Elephant Park are on sale for between £900,000 and £1m, and of the 2,704 new homes, only 82 are for social housing.” Former Heygate Estate theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

This IS a game changing moment in tacking the housing emergency. 🎉 The £39bn investment could mark the beginning of a bold new chapter for housing in this country. But to truly tackle rising homelessness, it must come alongside a clear target for delivering social rent homes.

This will give councils and housing associations much-needed certainty. It's a huge win for deputy PM Angela Rayner, who is right that building social housing is not just *a way* but *the way* to meet the govt's target of 1.5m homes in 5 years...

Pretty much anything is an improvement on where we’ve been when it comes to social housebuilding. The last govt gave £11.5 billion for the programme over 5 years, and 21% went to towards social housing. But campaigners like @Kwajotweneboa want a figure from the govt today.

£39 billion for 10 year Affordable Homes Programme being widely welcomed in the housing sector. But lots more detail needed, including how much of the £39bn will be for social housing and not Shared Ownership and other “affordable rent” homes. Some possible numbers…👇

I’ve seen some rough number crunching by @Shelter who estimate by end of year 5, around 35-40,000 new social homes could be built a year (currently 9,000) That is based on 60% of the £39bn going on social homes + ensuring private developers contribute social homes in their plans

Its time we stopped councils doing bad property deals with offshore tax dodgers and site flippers who fail to deliver the promised housing and sit on land as value rises until quelle surprise the site is 'too expensive' to build social homes on -so we get more of #TheWrongHousing

'Social housing is not just what millions of British people need as a matter of urgency; it will also have to be hugely revived if the government is to meet its 1.5m homes ..The last time such a feat materialised about half of all new-builds were delivered by local authorities.'

"Empty homes are an opportunity to deal with the worst aspects of our housing crisis ..homes in the right places.. on your street and my street. They’re not built on greenbelt. They’re right there where people want to live - and they’re going to waste" itv.com/news/westcount…

Ofwat have finally and truly lost its mind. "Northumbrian Water to pay £15.7m over failings," except it's not a fine at all. The money will be actually used for "improvements to the region's water infrastructure", in other words NW will spend the money doing the job people pay…

Reactionaries are horrified that London hasn't relegated all poor and working class households to distant suburbs. Whether or not you think poor people should have a right to live in central cities is a fundamental divide in urban politics.

A National Landlord Register is coming @genrentuk say, 'Key to success [is] the information landlords are required to provide. Without this it risks falling short of being useful to renters and councils' UPRNs, landlord cross refs & rent charged will let us see who owns our homes