Jess McCabe's Portfolio

Lack of workers halves new housing output for association (Inside Housing)

NEWS28/06/187:00 AMBY JESS MCCABE

Supply chain problems halved the number of homes Southern Housing Group completed this year, in one of the first concrete signs of the nationwide problem affecting delivery by housing associations.

Southern completed only 197 homes in the 2017/18 financial year. This is roughly half its output for the previous year, when it handed over 393, and even…

The battle to sustain tenancies (Inside Housing)

Welfare reforms have made affording the rent much trickier for some tenants. So, what steps can landlords take to help out and fulfil their social mission? Jess McCabe takes a look.  Illustration by Grace Alton

From the bedroom tax to Universal Credit and the benefit cap, the world that social landlords and their tenants live in has changed dramatically in recent years.

As a result, it is not…

Survey finds 23% of housing sector employees have experienced an unwanted sexual advance (Inside Housing)

NEWS08/06/1810:30 AM BY JESS MCCABE

Sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour are common in the housing sector, a survey by Inside Housing has uncovered.

A survey of 225 housing professionals found widespread experience of sexism, with 40% of respondents saying they had experienced or witnessed negative comments or abusive behaviour at work towards someone because of their sex.

A great…

Scale of harassment and sexism revealed as housing faces up to its #MeToo moment (Inside Housing)

An exclusive Inside Housing survey has uncovered a significant number of stories about sexual harassment in the workplace. Jess McCabe reports

The #MeToo movement reverberated around the world. It gained momentum last year as a Twitter hashtag taken up by Hollywood actors to talk about rape and sexual abuse and harassment in the film industry, and quickly spread.

People all over the world –…

Survey exposes office-based race, sex and age discrimination in sector

NEWS22/06/187:00 AMBY JESS MCCABE

Housing staff have shared shocking stories of race discrimination, including the use of the N-word at work, as Inside Housing publishes the first-ever sector survey of harassment and discrimination.

The survey unveiled anonymous stories of how staff have experienced discrimination, with 225 professionals providing information. One reported how “a former…

Revealed: your stories of discrimination in the social housing workplace (Inside Housing)

Housing professionals have responded to Inside Housing’s survey on discrimination at work, and the results are shocking. Jess McCabe reports.  Illustration by Peter Strain

This year, Inside Housing has spent a long time looking at the lack of diversity among the sector’s leaders – we’ve got a whole campaign on it, called Inclusive Futures. We’ve talked about mentoring, and raising up talented…

Meet the new chief executive of Southern (Inside Housing)

Alan Townshend will this year become chief executive of Southern Housing Group. Jess McCabe finds out his plans.  Photography by Tim Foster

Alan Townshend is about to join a select club: development directors who become chief executives of their housing associations.

“There are not many of us,” Mr Townshend says, as we’re taking photos in the colourful canteen of Southern Housing Group’s…

Ending rough sleeping in Greater Manchester: a 2020 vision (Inside Housing)

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham wants to end rough sleeping by 2020. Jess McCabe speaks to two senior members of his team to find out how they are doing so far.  Pictures by Rex Features and Alamy

Andy Burnham has an extremely ambitious target: to end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020. Mayors have set similar targets before – and spectacularly failed to meet them. Lest we…

Most domestic violence victims rent their homes, study shows (Inside Housing)

NEWS 23/03/184:45 PM BY JESS MCCABE

Domestic violence victims are much more likely to live in rented accommodation than be owner-occupiers, research has revealed.

A study by sociology professor Sylvia Walby and Jude Towers of Lancaster University found that two-thirds of domestic violence victims live in rented accommodation while one-third are owner-occupiers.

This is an…

A good match? Geeta Nanda talks about Metropolitan’s planned merger (Inside Housing)

INSIGHT 27/03/187:00 AM BY JESS MCCABE

After merger plans were scrapped at Thames Valley, its chief executive Geeta Nanda moved to Metropolitan, which is now planning to merge with her former employer. Jess McCabe asks why she thinks the outcome will be different this time.  Photography by Julian Anderson

“Whenever you start somewhere new, you feel like the new schoolgirl,” says Geeta…

The women who reinvented housing (Inside Housing)

The offices of Women’s Pioneer Housing are an unlikely location to discover a treasure trove.

But tucked on the edge of north London’s zooming A40, in a modest, warren-like office, inside a big safe, that is exactly what this 990-home housing association has found.

Chief executive Denise Fowler hovers at the edge of the safe as Inside Housing is allowed a quick look from a distance at bundles…

A sales warning for housing associations? (Inside Housing)

Parts of the South East of England’s housing market are slowing.  But what are associations experiencing on the ground?  Jess McCabe investigates.  Illustration by Michelle Thompson

No-one watching the housing market can have failed to see the signs of a slowdown in the South East.

House prices dropped 0.5% in the region last year, and 0.6% in London, according to broker Jefferies.…

Sad news - The Toast is about to delete its archive. I was incredibly proud to have this interview published by them back in 2013. It was a confounding interview, but fun to write.

By Jess McCabe

on September 12, 2013 in INTERVIEWS

Since her first opinion piece, a critique of college anti-rape activism, was published in 1993 in the New York Times, Roiphe, an academic at New York…

BY JESS MCCABE

London families are being forced to share bathrooms and kitchens with strangers for long periods, as councils make use of an exemption in the law on temporary accommodation, an Inside Housing investigation has revealed.

Homeless families are being housed for protracted periods in council-owned properties, Inside Housing has discovered, in conditions that would be…

Inside Housing has found that London councils are building their own hostels. But their exemption from a law on how long families can live in these conditions could be causing harm. Jess McCabe reports.  Illustration by Luke Best.  Photography by Alamy

On the day Natasha moved into a hostel in south London, her toddler was having a nap when she heard a noise from the corridor. It was the…

What’s it like trying to raise a baby in cramped and dangerous temporary housing? Jess McCabe investigates.  Illustration by Jonathan Gibbs

How do you teach a baby to crawl? What should be their first food? How do you toilet train a toddler? Should you let your baby sleep in your bed?

These are questions all new parents ask.

But if you’re homeless, finding the answers becomes a lot harder…

Going back to work when you’re breastfeeding can be daunting, but Jess McCabe knows her stuff…

So you’re going back to work, but you’re still breastfeeding. Unless you work around the corner from your childcare and can nip out to quickly nurse your baby, you’re probably planning to express milk at work. Here are the eight things you need to know before rocking up at your job with your breast…