Peter Apps

Journalist, Inside Housing and elsewhere. Author of Show Me The Bodies and Homesick

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

I was born into a city where housing was affordable. But I've grown up into one where it was not. What has gone wrong in London over the last 35 years? And where is it going in the future?

My new book, Homesick, tells that story. Out Sept 25 https://t.co/LpBQiEYP3f

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

The report into Hong Kong's Wang Fuk fire has been published - less than a year after the blaze which killed 168 residents.

It tells a damning story of private sector greed, public sector negligence, staggering incompetence and blatant corruption:

https://t.co/1Csd1OHNmK

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

More here https://t.co/lr7etADwDD

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Pretty grim stuff from an estate in South London where a housing association sold the homes to a property management company which is now attempting to push through evictions and convert the houses to HMOs

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

@Larus_Argentus @AaronBastani @novaramedia He already has!

https://t.co/uwzI8lcTsU

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

And to any of the "summer has always been hot, stop panicking" crowd, this is what excess heat deaths in Europe have looked like over the last 26 years. This summer was not normal:

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Bit of a grim conclusion to the Substack this week. With 50,000 heat deaths across Europe this summer (and more than 1,300 in London) we really need to start taking the risk of hot homes more seriously:

https://t.co/GLPZF4rRMZ

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

I look a touch manic in the still for this video, but if you can get past that it was great to be invited onto @DoubleDownNews to talk about how we got into the housing mess we're in and where we're going in the future:

https://t.co/zDghnANAbQ

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Heat networks are a big, under the radar problem for housing and energy policy. Our budgets to fix them are far too low and consumers have no protection from the Iran War price shock which will land on rents and service charges next year

[redbrick @redbrickblog]

Imagine paying for heating when just 15-35% of the energy reaches your home.

Residents in buildings using heat networks still pay for the waste, and they have no energy price cap to protect them.

@PeteApps writes for Red Brick

https://t.co/HBKku3aVpp

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Substack this week ranges from solar panel fire risk to General Franco's housing policy:

https://t.co/mflOW5jPbl

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Remains to be seen what size and shape the oversight mechanism will take, and how long it would need to be set up. But to be meaningful, it needs to be an independent audit body like the NAO or OBR, not just a report from the govt departments in question

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Andy Burnham has confirmed support for a 'National Oversight Mechanism' to monitor the government's response to recommendations from key inquests and inquiries - something many bereaved and survivors of Grenfell have pushed hard for

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

This is an important part of the Grenfell story - due to the failure to understand and implement the recommendations from the Lakanal House coroner's inquiry, which the government fatally ignored before Grenfell

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

In Manchester tomorrow evening for with Isaac Rose and @gmtenantsunion for a discussion about the housing crisis. A few (free) tickets left if anyone is about:

https://t.co/bjpqcHPg7v

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

It’s totally inappropriate for any individual criticised by the Inquiry to continue to work in housing, particularly while criminal investigations are ongoing. It’s right that Laura Johnson is no longer in such a position”

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

I understand that Laura Johnson, the former RBKC housing director whose actions were criticised in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, is no longer employed by the Barnet Group which recently gave her a permanent role as group director

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Labour MP for North Kensington, Joe Powell, comments: “The Grenfell Tower Inquiry was clear about the failings of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and senior individuals involved in the management of their housing, including the Tower.

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Arconic - which made the cladding - settled a similar lawsuit with its investors in the US in 2023 for $74m (more than double what it paid bereaved and survivors)

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

Kingspan faces €100m investor lawsuit in UK over alleged Grenfell Tower misconduct.

Sharedholders are suing the firm, arguing its behaviour damaged the value of their investments.

Link below (TW for image of the tower on fire)

[Peter Apps @PeteApps]

https://t.co/XRbTxx9f4z