07 March 2003
The government has given way to protests over the scrapping of the local authority social housing grant (LASHG) and announced an extra £110m in transitional funding to keep affordable housing projects on track.
Housing minister Lord Rooker said: 'The local authority social housing grant was an unfair funding mechanism that was consistently underspent.'
The new funding, he said, would 'support housing investment of up to £550m – an increase of £50m on the provision for LASHG in 2002/03'.
Earlier, at a National Housing Federation conference of housing association chief executives on March 3, Rooker had said the government was listening carefully to concerns raised by councils and registered social landlords.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister gave only six weeks' notice of the scheme's abolition at the beginning of April. RSLs, which receive grants from local authorities to build affordable housing, warned that schemes could be at risk unless transitional funding was increased.
Under LASHG, councils pay grants worth up to £400m per year and reclaim the money from the Housing Corporation.
Rooker also announced that the deadline for submitting funding bids to the Housing Corporation had been extended from April 1 to June 30.
NHF chair Richard McCarthy said: 'The tight timescale sent a number of schemes back to the drawing board and hindered our ability to deliver affordable housing.'
PFmar2003
