|
The Government has pursued an ambitious goal over the ten years of the decent homes policy: "a decent home for all". To achieve this goal, it drew up a detailed standard of decency, articulated a clear vision, laid down challenging targets and set up a range of options for the implementation of the policy. An estimated £40 billion has been made available for the work in the social sector alone, which has paid for, among other things, the installation of 700,000 new kitchens, 525,000 new bathrooms, over 1 million new central heating systems and the re-wiring of 740,000 homes. This is not to say that the policy has been an unqualified success; and in particular Ministers do not seem to have given a great deal of thought to what should happen after the policy reaches its target date in 2010.
Our inquiry comes at a time of change in the world of housing policy. The economic climate has had a dramatic effect on the resources available for public spending. The growing consensus on climate change lends renewed urgency to efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from housing; and the tension between building new homes and maintaining existing ones continues to exercise decision-makers. A new regulator of social housing, the Tenant Services Authority, has been established and a new regulatory framework for social housing is expected imminently. The reform of the Housing Revenue Account promises to bring significant and welcome change to the way in which local authorities are able to manage the housing stock they own and the historic debt it carries.
In this context, we have noted the successes and challenges of the decent homes programme over the ten years of its existence and drawn conclusions that we hope will be useful in creating the policy of the next ten. We find that, while the social sector programme has received a huge injection of political will and financial resource, the private sector programme has been quietly downgraded and inadequately funded. We find that, although great progress has been made in the social sector, a significant backlog of works remains and the incentive structure of the programme may have led landlords to conceal the extent of the works required after 2010. We find that, while the use of arm's-length management organisations to manage council housing has led to improved standards and better planning, many councils that were unable to follow the ALMO model or to transfer stock have languished, inadequately funded.
We believe that the Government is to be applauded for its achievements in this area, but that detailed thought should now urgently be given to what succeeds the decent homes standard and the legacy of the programme of work it entailed. Our conclusions and recommendations are intended to aid that process of reflection and be a spur to action.
|
