1 Introduction
1. The Housing Corporation is now the major public
funder of new social housing at a time when the shortage of affordable
housing has been highlighted by many reports by this Committee
and others and is high on the Government's agenda. It is setting
up an increasing number of agencies to increase the supply of
housing. Regional Housing Boards have also been established to
develop regional strategies. The Government also aims to improve
the management of existing social housing. Here we consider how
the Housing Corporation has responded to the need to build more
homes and its relationships with all the other agencies. With
the Government concluding its own review of the Housing Corporation,
it was an appropriate moment to hold this inquiry.
2. The Committee announced its inquiry on 7 January
2004. The terms of reference were to consider:
- the effectiveness of the Housing
Corporation's role in ensuring housing associations are:
- financially sound and responsible
- accountable
- providing high quality housing
- catering for diverse housing needs
- assisting the process of regeneration;
- the Housing Corporation's investment priorities,
its balance of funding for social housing to rent, shared ownership
and low cost housing for sale and its policy towards diversification.
- the Housing Corporation's relationship with other
national public and private agencies - particularly the Audit
Commission, Charity Commission, Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders,
the Financial Services Authority, private finance institutions
and house builders;
- the extent of the integration of the Housing
Corporation's investment programmes with local, regional and national
policies and particularly its emerging relationship with the regional
housing boards and the Regional Development Agencies;
- the future role of the Housing Corporation in
increasing the supply of affordable housing and the potential
for streamlining all funding for social housing.
3. We received twenty nine written submissions and
held five evidence sessions. We would like to thank our two specialist
advisers, Brendan Nevin and Mark Lupton, for their guidance and
assistance, and all those organisations who made written submissions
or gave oral evidence to this inquiry.
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