Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Eighth Report


Conclusions and recommendations

The changing role of the Housing Corporation

1.  There is now considerable confusion about which agency is responsible for the provision of social housing. There is a clear need to clarify the Housing Corporation's relationships with all the agencies engaged in the provision of affordable housing (Paragraph 9)

2.  The End to End Review should consider how decisions on housing investment should be taken and then determine the Housing Corporation's role in that framework at a national, regional and local level. (Paragraph 13)

The Housing Corporation's national role

3.  The Housing Corporation should no longer be a passive delivery agency for Government housing programmes. It should take on a national role in terms of contributing towards a national framework for housing and acting as the public champion of social housing alongside the Local Government Association and the National Housing Federation. It needs to take on a strategic role in overseeing the work of the Regional Housing Boards. (Paragraph 23)

4.  The Housing Corporation should retain its regulatory role over housing associations and should use the best practice and examples of innovative projects which it has developed to raise the quality of housing association management. The results of its innovation and good practice programme should be actively disseminated and used in a way which informs strategic priorities. (Paragraph 24)

The Housing Corporation and Sustainable Communities

5.  There is potential for greater collaboration between English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and the Department of Health and Ministry of Defence to maximise the potential for affordable housing in the redevelopment of their surplus operational land. (Paragraph 35)

6.  There are a large number of new regeneration agencies charged with delivering the Sustainable Communities Plan. The Housing Corporation needs to consider its role in securing considerable amounts of social housing as part of the mixed tenure developments being proposed. (Paragraph 36)

7.  English Partnerships' role in promoting housing development must be clarified as there seems to be an overlap with the role of the Housing Corporation. The Government needs to reconsider its proposal in the Housing Bill to allow the Housing Corporation to fund private developers. It would cause confusion as EP and other agencies already have the remit to fund developers and giving an additional remit to the Housing Corporation could cause confusion and duplication. (Paragraph 37)

8.  The relationship between the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships and the other new agencies delivering the Sustainable Communities Plan must be put on a firmer footing. Reciprocal membership of the boards of the agencies is not sufficient. Greater integration of social housing funds and landownership in the areas covered by the Sustainable Communities Plan is required to maximise the amount of affordable housing in the private developments. (Paragraph 38)

The Regional Agenda

9.  There is potential to develop the role of the Regional Housing Boards but first of all they must increase their input from local authorities and tenants organisations. This could build on the work of the regional housing partnerships which involve a variety of housing interests in many areas and are drawing up the regional housing strategy on behalf of the Boards. (Paragraph 53)

10.  The Regional Housing Boards need a clear role in overseeing the allocation of housing funds. They should develop a monitoring regime for the Housing Corporation's allocation of funds to housing associations to ensure that the priorities identified in the Board's regional strategies are met. The Boards also require resources to develop their analysis of regional needs and prepare their strategies. (Paragraph 54)

11.  Regional policies should be drawn up by local interests. The Housing Corporation and English Partnerships are represented on all the Regional Housing Boards but they are national agencies providing funding, land and development expertise. At the moment the Corporation and EP's regional structures do not reflect the RHBs or the Government's regional offices. If their involvement is to be meaningful, EP and the Housing Corporation must develop effective regional arrangements to ensure that those with regional knowledge are on the Boards. In regions where EP does not have a major programme it should not sit on the Regional Housing Board, but once a new programme is developed in a region then it should be eligible for representation. (Paragraph 55)

12.  The Housing Corporation must develop a clear relationship with the Regional Housing Boards in terms of managing the delivery of housing. At a regional level progress and monitoring reports prepared for the Corporation should be made available to the Regional Housing Board and the Corporation should make it their practice to consult the Board on a regular basis. In distributing funds, the Corporation should be obliged to consult the Regional Housing Boards and to have due regard to their strategies and priorities. (Paragraph 56)

13.  The Government should require English Partnerships to work to the priorities set by the Regional Housing Boards and to report progress on implementation to them on a regular basis. (Paragraph 57)

14.  The Committee accepts that housing and planning policies needs to be better coordinated but there is no case currently for merging the Regional Housing Boards with Regional Planning Boards. The Regional Housing Boards are beginning to develop a regional approach to the provision and funding of affordable housing that could be lost in the merger. Once directly elected assemblies are set up, they should be allowed to decide how planning and housing decisions are made. (Paragraph 58)

The role of the local authorities

15.  The Housing Corporation needs to review how it works with local authorities to ensure that its funding and partnering arrangements help to implement their local housing strategies. Public funders need to consider better how they contribute to achieving mixed tenure development. (Paragraph 64)

Housing Corporation Efficiency Savings

16.  In the quest to increase the number of homes, there is a serious danger that the quality of new homes may suffer. The Housing Corporation should impose stringent design requirements on housing associations before any funding bid is approved. It also needs to set out clearly its requirements in terms of whole lifetime costs and adaptability. Where possible, it should ensure that homes meet lifetime homes standards. (Paragraph 69)

17.  There is currently no certainty that the use of off-site manufacturing is any more cost effective than traditional methods. The committee welcomes the opportunity to address the shortage of on-site skills and to use prefabricated components that could offer thermal, acoustic and other benefits. The committee is concerned that off-site fabrication methods should not mirror any of the 'system-build' approaches used in the past that have left a legacy of problems in some housing stock. (Paragraph 75)

18.  The government should work with the Building Research Establishment to develop confidence that all new off-site manufacturing methodologies will be effective in the short term and over the lifetime of the housing. (Paragraph 76)

19.  The Housing Corporation is prioritising funding to larger housing associations despite a lack of evidence that they are more efficient at managing or developing their stock. There is some evidence that smaller associations are better managers. The Partnering approach has been implemented by the Housing Corporation without due consideration for its impact on the housing association movement. A detailed evaluation is required which considers not only the efficiency savings of the Corporation working with fewer larger associations but also in terms of the costs and quality of management and maintenance. (Paragraph 87)

20.  Housing association development and management can be made more efficient but reforms should not be driven through that undermine the advantages of their developments in terms of providing responsive local management. The Housing Corporation's vision for housing associations should enshrine that requirement in all its funding decisions and only approve funding applications from associations which have local management arrangements in place. Effective service delivery to tenants should be the key driver of any moves to rationalise the number of housing associations. Where associations are proving inefficient or not providing a good service incentives and penalties should be considered to encourage rationalisation. (Paragraph 88)

21.  There is a need for associations of varying types and sizes to meet the specific needs of local communities. There are too many small associations in some areas with problems of low demand housing which are adding to the complexity of assembling sites. The Housing Corporation needs to look at encouraging housing associations to set up neighbourhood management organisations which could manage the local stock of a number of associations. (Paragraph 89)

Regulation and Inspection

22.  The Government must ensure that the costs to housing associations of inspection and regulation are not excessive. It should require the Corporation to produce a plan for the strategic regulation of housing associations which will streamline the regulatory burden. It should consider setting up a single regulatory body or at least aligning the different regimes to streamline the process and avoid duplication. (Paragraph 96)

23.  The Government needs to review the Housing Corporation's powers to respond to the inspections carried out by the Audit Commission. With the new emphasis on housing associations providing quality services, the Housing Corporation needs intermediate powers to influence how services are delivered without imposing supervision or a statutory inquiry. (Paragraph 99)

24.  There is potential confusion between the roles of the Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission in terms of assessing the quality of management of services by housing association. The ODPM needs to clarify the distinctive regulatory and inspection roles of the Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission. (Paragraph 104)


 
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