CIH calls for debate on housing subsidy system

7 Jul 05
Housing professionals have pledged to keep up pressure on the government to reform the complex subsidy system.

08 July 2005

Housing professionals have pledged to keep up pressure on the government to reform the complex subsidy system.

The system for financing local authority housing, described by the Audit Commission last month as unsustainable, should be the subject of a thorough debate that could take more than a year, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Sarah Webb, the CIH's director of policy, agreed with the commission that the system, under which 82% of English authorities subsidise the remaining 18%, was unlikely to survive as more councils transfer their stock to housing associations.

But she also said that the system was seriously out of touch with the government's agenda of 'new localism', because rents paid by council tenants are pooled nationally rather than used to fund better housing and other services locally.

'It's a laudable ambition to want to engage local people, but you can't do that if the starting point is a system not make any sense,' she said.

The Local Government Association has also called for a review of the subsidy system, but the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister claims that it has already demonstrated the system can adapt once councils withdraw following stock transfers.

'The system has not changed fundamentally even though the world around it has changed,' added Webb. 'There are no quick fixes but we have to start a debate, even though it will be extremely hard to have one if the ODPM does not take part.'

PFjul2005

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top