Council housing

From April, an under-occupation penalty will be served on housing benefit claimants with a spare room or rooms. Dubbed the “bedroom tax”, Ciaran Jenkins explains how it works.

The biggest social housing landlord in the north west says almost a quarter of its tenants subject to the so-called “bedroom tax” are being forced to leave their homes.

The latest census reveals crucial changes in how we live today, including a rise in immigration to the UK, population and education level, and a drop in religion, marriage and mortgage owners.

New figures estimate 100,000 people have obtained council houses and flats through fraud or are illegally subletting them for profit, writes Jane Deith

Married cousins who forced destitute men into slavery at a travellers’ camp near Bedfordshire are jailed for 11 years and four years respectively.

Housing groups call on the government to do more after publishing their second Housing Report which finds it is failing in five out of 10 key issues.

The father of six children who died in a house fire in Derby thanks members of the emergency services and says he will donate one of his son’s organs to save another child’s life.

A house fire which killed six children in Derby “was not accidental, and initial indications are that it was deliberately set,” Derbyshire Police have said.

Derbyshire police say 13-year-old Duwayne Philpott, five of whose siblings died in a house fire on Friday, is unlikely to survive.

From Thatcher to Cameron. As the prime minister unveils big discounts for council tenants in England who want to buy their homes, Channel 4 News looks in detail at the right to buy scheme.

As a disused bank in Belfast is occupied in protest against the area’s housing problems, Channel 4 News asks whether an Occupy movement can bring about change – and why housing is of such concern.

Prime Minister David Cameron uses his keynote speech to the Conservative conference to pledge a return of right to buy, tax breaks for married couples, and the legalisation of gay marriage.

Home ownership will slump to the lowest levels since the mid-1980s, according to a report by a group representing housing associations.

New figures from the Communities Department confirm that the wealthier your area, the more likely you are to pay high council taxes and to receive less from central government.

Local councils are facing tough budget cuts. But could they sell off some of their 11,000 acres of land to cope? Channel 4’s Dispatches investigates how much land your local council owns.