A Council Housing Renaissance to Help Solve Britain’s Housing Needs

Councils should be given the freedom to build more homes to help kick start a council housing renaissance. That's the message from the National Federation of ALMOs and the Association of Retained Council Housing today, who together manage four fifths of the council homes in England. Ahead of May's General Election they have for the first time united the council housing sector to produce a manifesto that sets out a series of practical policies which would see councils and ALMOs play a key role in meeting the country's housing needs. Read more on the ARCH website.

Ministers Warned Of Decrease In House Building

The government is exploring emergency measures to kick-start house-building, amid an expected decrease in new build this year, BBC Newsnight has learned. In leaked documents, officials warn the last set of figures before the 2015 general election will reveal house building to have decreased by 4%. That figure will be released in February 2015, three months ahead of the general election. The government said pressure would be brought to bear on "slow-coach councils" to deliver on new build. The decrease is worrying the government after it expended quite considerable political capital on planning reform and other measures to boost house building. Read more on the BBC website.

NewBuy to Deliver 25,000 Not 100,000 Homes

Housebuilders will only be able to deliver up to 25,000 homes for sale through the government’s flagship NewBuy mortgage guarantee scheme, rather than the 100,000 homes ministers have previously claimed.  Launched by the prime minister in March, NewBuy was designed to help first-time buyers afford new-build homes.  David Cameron said it would kickstart housebuilding by enabling up to 100,000 extra homes to be built - a figure consistently repeated by ministers.  But it has now emerged the Home Builder’s Federation, which runs the scheme, expects an upper limit of 25,000 homes to be sold. Housebuilders have claimed demand for NewBuy mortgages has been limited by lenders’ high interest rates of about 6%.  The news comes after the first official figures for the scheme showed for the period from 12 March to 30 June just 250 homes had been sold.  Read more on the Building website.

£400m Building Fund Mainly a Loan

The government’s £400 million fund to unlock a wave of English house building projects is unlikely to include a significant amount of grant money. The get Britain building fund, which was launched as part of the government’s housing strategy is designed to provide financing to projects on mothballed sites. However, unlike its predecessor, the £400 million kick-start programme, the scheme will see little or no public money given to developers. Instead, the fund will come in the form of development loans at commercial rates or equity stakes in projects. In a Home Builders Federation briefing note to its members the industry body warned that the scheme would include ‘little, if any, grants or gap funding’. Read more on Inside Housing.

HCA Exceeds Its End of Year Homes Targets

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has smashed its end of year housing starts target by 65 per cent. Six-monthly figures released by the agency - in relation to housing starts and completions delivered through its various programmes - show that it has far exceeded its key outputs for 2010-11. According to its figures, it achieved a total of 57,605 housing starts on site against a target of 34,982 – equating to 65% above target - and 64,242 housing completions in England against a target of 62,495, in the financial year ending 31 March 2011. In the case of the latter, this figure is an increase of 8,088 more homes delivered than last year (56,154). The homes were delivered through its National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP), Kickstart Housing Delivery Programme, the Local Authority New Build Programme (LANB) and the Property & Regeneration (P&R) programme. Read more on the HCA website.

HCA Decides Fate of Stalled Projects

The HCA has announced which of the proposed developments affected by its funding freeze will get the go ahead. More than half of the Kickstart and local authority new build schemes that were put on hold following government spending cuts will get funding. However developments that would have included 3,000 homes have been left without cash from either. Find links to approved schemes on the Inside Housing website.

Government 'Snuck Out' HCA Cuts

Former Labour housing minister John Healey has criticised government ministers for not making a statement in Parliament about cuts to the HCA budget. A total of £450 million will be cut from HCA funding programmes, and its Kickstart and local authority new build programmes will be scrapped. Mr Healey said: ‘Why was it that no minister made a statement in public or to this house about those cuts? The details were snuck out on the HCA website. Will the minister confirm now to the house that the £450 million cut in the HCA’s budget this year will mean that nearly 6,000 new affordable homes will not be built and 5,000 house building jobs will go?’ Read the full story on Inside Housing.

Review of Kickstart Projects – PWA

John Healey MP: Which (a) Kickstart and (b) local authority new build projects which were placed on hold by the HCA in their statement of 25 May 2010 have now reached legal completion and will be funded following the HCA's statement of 6 July 2010?
Grant Shapps MP: The HCA's regional teams are currently undertaking evaluation of all projects funding that had been put on hold under Kickstart Round Two and local authority new build. Determination will be based on available resources with the aim to maximise affordable housing and achieve best value for money alongside local priorities, with completion of reviews as soon as possible.

HCA Scraps Flagship Building Schemes

The HCA has confirmed that two of its key house building programmes will effectively be scrapped. Kickstart, which aims to breathe life into stalled schemes, and the local authority new build programme, which has seen some councils provide their first homes for decades, will not continue after final decisions are made about which of this year’s schemes will go ahead. Last week the government announced it is cutting the HCA’s budget for 2010/11 by £450 million, or around 10 per cent. The reduction includes £230 million of savings announced earlier in the year. The agency has said all Kickstart round two projects approved before the 6 April are safe, leaving 74 projects that have applied for around £241 million to deliver 7,678 homes. 91 LANB schemes are also on hold. They have applied for around £58 million and would deliver 912 homes. Regional HCA teams will decide which projects will get the go-ahead in the next few weeks. Read the details in the HCA briefing note by clicking on the logo below.

HCA: How the Funding for New Homes Adds Up

The HCA has revealed details of how funding confirmed by the Government for new homes would be spent. The statement follows an announcement confirming £390 million funding for the HCA. According to the briefing, here's how the HCA’s funding adds up:
* On 24 May reductions were made to the HCA’s programmes of £230m as part of wider efficiency saving imposed on CLG. These were made up of £100m (National Affordable Housing Programme); £50m (Kickstart Round 2); £30m (Gypsy & Traveller Programme); £50m (Housing Market Renewal, subject to consultation).
* As part of the Government’s announcement on the above reductions, it was indicated that Housing Pledge funding for the HCA of £780m was not secure. However, the Treasury also indicated that £170m of funding would be reinvested in the HCA for social rented housing, creating an overall potential shortfall in funding for the Agency of £610m (£780m - £170m = £610m).
* The Government has decided that granting the remaining £610m in full is unaffordable, given the extent of similar commitments across the rest of government. However, the Government has guaranteed that £390m will be available this year, on top of the £170m announced on 24 May 2010. This will be prioritised towards new affordable housing as well as meeting existing commitments on Decent Homes and Mortgage Rescue.
* In total the £780m coupled with £230m in programme cuts, created a total potential shortfall in funding of £1.010 billion. This set against a funding commitment from government of £170m and now a further £390m means that the HCA has a programme reduction in 2010/11 of £450m in total (£230m (as above) plus £220m as per yesterday’s announcement). This reduces the HCA’s capital budget for 2010/11 by around 10 per cent, to £4.11bn.
As a result of the funding settlement, the HCA has confirmed that it will be able to meet existing contractual commitments across all of its programmes. It will also be able to provide funding for those Round 2 Kickstart and LANB schemes approved before 6 April. Details of LANB schemes that are contractually committed and have secured funding, including Nottingham’s Round 2 bid for new build in Bilborough and Bulwell, are available on the HCA website by clicking on the logo below.

Local Authority Housing Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer (2)

John Healey MP: What estimate has been made of the change to the number of homes to be built under (a) the National Affordable Housing Programme, (b) the Kickstart scheme and (c) the Housing Market Renewal Programme as a result of the budgetary reductions announced on 24 May 2010?
Grant Shapps MP:The Government are committed to reducing the UK’s budget deficit. It has led us to identify savings across Government including the £150 million reduction against the previous Administration's housing pledge. Against this, £170 million has been provided for 2010-11 to safeguard delivery of around 4,000, otherwise unfunded, social rented homes. It is estimated that the £150 million reduction will reduce the number of affordable housing starts by around 5,000 but these changes will mainly fall to shared ownership and shared equity schemes - not social rented housing. The Department is consulting on the mechanism by which the Housing Market Renewal reduction of £50 million will take place. In addition we will un-ring fence HMR expenditure in order to provide maximum flexibility at a local level. At this stage the final decision on individual allocations has still to be taken. It will be for individual HMR Pathfinders to manage the reductions and to review the varying impact.
John Healey MP: What guidance has been provided to councils on assessing levels of housing need in their area?
Robert Neill MP: Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing and the Strategic Housing Market Assessment Practice Guidance can assist local authorities on how to assess the level of housing need in their area.

HCA Exceeds Its End of Year Homes Targets

The Homes and Communities Agency has exceeded its end of year housing targets, despite the economic downturn and challenging operating conditions. Its second set of official six-monthly statistics in relation to housing starts and completions delivered through its National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP), Kickstart Housing Delivery Programme, the Local Authority New Build Programme (LANB) and Property & Regeneration (P&R) programme show that the Agency far exceeded its key outputs for 2009-10, completing a total of 64,811 housing starts on site against a target of 53,315, and 56,118 housing completions in England against a target of 52,325 in the financial year ending 31 March 2010. Find all the facts on the HCA website.

Council Houses under Threat

Local authorities fear the first significant council house building programme for more than a decade is under threat from funding cuts. More than £58 million to fund the construction of 912 council homes has been put on hold pending the 22 June emergency Budget. A total of £100 million has also been cut from the National Affordable Housing Programme. Councils, some of which were hoping to build their first authority-provided homes in years, now face uncertainty over new projects. Bristol Council, which has nearly £3 million of funding for 45 new homes on 11 sites on hold, Hull Council (£3.4 million for 57 homes) and Dudley Council (£4.34 million for 81 homes) are among 43 authorities affected. The council freeze and cuts come on top of the £214 million funding freeze for the HCA’s Kickstart programme. Read the full story on Inside Housing.

Impact of Her Majesty’s Treasury Announcement on HCA Spending

Following the announcement by Her Majesty’s Treasury on spending cuts, the Homes and Communities Agency will be implementing a package of programme savings totalling £230 million. This is part of a wider package of programme savings being made by its sponsor department – Communities and Local Government – of £780 million pounds for the current financial year 2010/11. The HCA savings are made up of reductions to the following programme budgets:
National Affordable Housing Programme £100 million pounds
Kickstart Round 2 £50 million. There are currently bids totalling £214 million that have gone through the due diligence process. The sum available to fund Kickstart projects will be reduced by £50m. Total 2010/11 Kickstart (Round 1 and Round 2) budget = £420 million pounds.
Gypsy and Traveller programme - £30 million pounds
Housing Market Renewal - £50 million pounds
In addition to the programme savings outlined above, further commitments on the remaining uncommitted funds for the National Affordable Housing Programme, Kickstart Round 2 and Local Authority New Build (LANB) programmes will remain on hold, until Government funding decisions are detailed in the Chancellor’s 50 day budget on 22 June 2010. All affected stakeholders will be receiving correspondence from the HCA explaining the current situation and the implications. Read the full briefing including details of what projects are continuing in Kickstart and which LANB projects are on hold until the Budget on 22 June by clicking on the HCA logo below.