Its the national housing confernce in Manchester this week, so we expect to see a few annoucements and also some rhetoric

The head of a £448 million government programme to help 120,000 of England’s most troubled families has told housing professionals to get more involved.

Louise Casey, the civil servant leading the government’s troubled families team, told delegates at the conference that ‘housing is not loud enough on this agenda’ and that the sector needs to ‘crank up the volume’.

Her comments came the day after communities secretary Eric Pickles announced that all 152 eligible English local authorities had signed up to the payment-by-results programme.

Councils will receive £3,900 from the government for each family when they hit targets around children’s school attendance, a reduction in anti-social behaviour by all family members, and reducing youth offending. They will also receive £4,000 for every adult in the family that moves off benefits and into continuous work.

Local authorities and local agencies will be expected to cover the remainder of cost of family intervention projects, which each cost around £10,000 according to the Communities and Local Government department.