HCA Targets Large Landlords

A radical shake-up of social housing funding could allow a handful of large housing associations to snap up the bulk of government funding until 2015. The new funding regime is being drawn up by the HCA as it seeks to spend the £1.9 billion of development cash which emerged unscathed from October’s comprehensive spending review. Under revised rules, associations will be able to bid for a programme of development of an agreed number of homes over four years rather than on a scheme-by-scheme basis. The revamp marks a return to the ‘partnership’ approach to development first devised by HCA predecessor the Housing Corporation. A group of larger developing landlords, including 61,500-home association Circle Anglia and Affinity Sutton, which owns 55,000 homes, have already had informal discussions with the HCA. The agency plans to publish details of the bidding process in the new year. Read more on Inside Housing.

Lack of Mobility Costs £542m a Year

Social tenants’ inability to move home is costing the UK’s economy at least £542 million each year, according to a report from a think tank. Counting the Costs, a report commissioned by Circle Anglia, estimates that 495,000 of the 3.9 million social households in the UK want to move home, but are unable to do so for a number of reasons, including a fall in the number of available lettings and a rise in the number of families on waiting lists for social housing. Over the past 13 years, there has been a 66 per cent decline in the availability of new lettings to existing tenants, while one in 12 households in England are now on waiting lists. The report breaks down the £542 million annual cost into £305 million lost as a result of tenants not being able to care for their relatives, an additional £81 million cost to the NHS caused by unsuitable housing, £48 million on welfare payments and lost tax revenues from tenants wanting to take up employment but unable to do so, £32 million on educational under-attainment and £58 million to the criminal justice system. Download a copy of the report from the Circle Anglia website.