HCA Appoint Interim Chief Exec

The Homes and Communities Agency have announced that Richard Hill has been appointed as chief executive and accounting officer of the Agency, on an interim basis until such time as the process to recruit a permanent chief executive is completed.  Currently director of programmes and deputy chief executive of the HCA, Mr Hill will take up his new role as of 26 January, following Pat Ritchie’s departure to Newcastle City Council. Richard Hill was formerly director of investment at the Housing Corporation, and before that held senior roles at NHSU and the New Opportunities Fund.  Read more on the HCA website.

Chief Executive Leaves HCA

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) chief executive Pat Ritchie has today announced that she will be leaving the Agency to take up the role of chief executive at Newcastle City Council.  She will leave the HCA at the end of January.  Read more on the HCA website.

Regulator Found Guilty Of Maladministration

A watchdog has told the social housing regulator to apologise for its predecessor’s handling of a complaint from a tenant management organisation.  The parliamentary and health service ombudsman found maladministration in the way the Tenant Services Authority communicated with a TMO which was unhappy about its handling of a complaint.  As a result, the new regulator, the HCA has pledged to remind front line staff about appropriate directing of individual and group complaints to other organisations. The ombudsman told Pat Ritchie, chief executive of the HCA, to write to John Challinor, company secretary of Bacup & Stacksteads TMO, within four weeks to apologise for ‘injustice caused’.  The TMO, which managed 960 homes in Rossendale, Lancashire, complained that the TSA failed to properly investigate its claim that Trans-Pennine Housing, now part of Together Housing Group, had engaged in ‘corporate bullying’ of the TMO. This related to a decision in February 2010 to stop funding for the TMO.  Read more on Inside Housing.

HCA Hits Completion Targets

The Homes and Communities Agency has exceeded its target for affordable housing completions for 2011/12, while the number of starts continues to lag behind previous years’ totals. There were 51,665 affordable housing completions in England, out of a total of 59,451 homes, exceeding the HCA’s targets by more than 15,000.  HCA chief executive Pat Ritchie said the figures showed the agency was ‘making a significant impact on boosting the supply of affordable homes’.  However, the number of starts in 2011/12 (15,698) was less than a third of last year’s total (49,363).  The HCA has committed to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes through its 2011/15 development programme.  View the statistics on the HCA website.

The Future of the Homes and Communities Agency

The HCA’s core business is now to support local priorities through four activities: investment in new housing and communities, providing enabling support to local partners, utilising the HCA’s own and public sector land assets and, from April 2012, the economic regulation of registered housing providers (RPs). Investment will be provided through three programmes: affordable housing including the development of the new affordable rent model (£4.5bn), decent homes backlog funding (£2.1bn) and continued funding for property and regeneration. Read the rest of this letter form Pat Ritchie on the HCA website.

Shapps Announces HCA Reform Package - 50% Slash in Running Costs

Housing Minister Grant Shapps and Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Chief Executive Pat Ritchie have announced plans to transform the HCA into a smaller enabling body working for local communities on their priorities.
The statement follows a review of the role of the HCA as part of the Spending Review process. They will lead to a reduction in its running costs by half over two years, saving the taxpayer over £100m by 2014-15.
Key elements of the plans, which will be delivered within the CSR period, include:
* a 50 per cent reduction in HCA running costs from over £80m per year to around £40m per year
* reducing the number of HCA Directors from 12 to six, with the potential to reduce this further over time
* a reduction from 17 to four core HCA offices, with locations to be finalised as HCA work within the broader DCLG and public sector estate rationalisation programme.
Read more on the CLG website.

New Chief Executive Prepares HCA for Smaller Future

The new chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency warned the organisation is in for a major change in the way it operates during the first few months of her tenure. Pat Ritchie was recently unveiled as the HCA’s interim chief executive. She indicated major changes for the HCA were imminent. ‘The housing minister has been quite clear that the HCA will be smaller and more strategic,’ she said. ‘We will have an enabling role towards our partners and local authorities and that will require a big shift for us as an organisation.’ One of Ms Ritchie’s first priorities as chief executive will be to ensure the HCA responds to the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, which concludes on 20 October. Read more on Inside Housing.

HCA Appoints Interim Chief Executive

Pat Ritchie has been appointed to the post of chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Agency's chairman Robert Napier has announced.  Currently the HCA's director for the North East, Pat will now lead the Agency through a significant period of change including development of its continuing role as a smaller, enabling and investment organisation.  Pat takes up her new role as of 1 November and will remain in post until a permanent appointment is made next year. She replaces Sir Bob Kerslake who moves to be Permanent Secretary at CLG.  Read more on the HCA website.