Housing Revenue Accounts – Parliamentary Written Answer

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to assist local authorities in acquiring necessary skills, partnerships and capacity to utilise the increased borrowing allowed against the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). 

Kris Hopkins: This Government has made available £300 million of extra HRA borrowing to help stock-holding local authorities build new affordable homes. The first allocations of £60 million across 15 local authorities was announced on 7 July alongside a second round of bidding to ensure councils make full use of this opportunity. Each scheme was assessed individually against a range of criteria including value for money and deliverability as well as the track record of the local authority to ensure they had the technical capacity to deliver the schemes or with a partner organisation. We have also encouraged councils to work closely with their local enterprise partnership in support of local growth strategies, to increase the supply of housing locally. (Extract)