25 January 2008
Housing associations must work more closely with local authorities to speed up the construction of new homes, the head of a new government agency has said.
Sir Bob Kerslake, who has been named as the Homes and Communities Agency's first chief executive, says registered social landlords should work with individual councils rather than relying on long-standing national ties.
'Many associations have recognised that there needs to be more of a three-way relationship between the agency, housing associations and local authorities,' he told Public Finance.
'While local authorities have always been involved, the strength of the relationship has been sectoral. We need to have more of a geographical relationship.'
Kerslake, currently chief executive of Sheffield City Council, is due to become the agency's chief executive designate in March. The new body will take responsibility for all government housing and regeneration programmes from April 2009.
Local authorities, he insisted, will eventually become the 'hub' for house building and other schemes. But he accepted that many remain uncertain of the agency's precise role.
'We need to set out a clear vision of how it's going to work,' he said. 'I want the agency to grow within the grain of localism. I want it to be local government's best delivery partner.'
About 40 councils have signed protocols with the Housing Corporation, pledging to help RSLs find land for new homes and overcome planning hurdles. The corporation will disappear as part of the shake-up that leads to the HCA's launch.
Kerslake said he expected RSLs to continue building most new social housing, and repeated calls by ministers for them to increase private borrowing rather than depend on grants. 'We need to harness the huge assets of housing associations as well as their expertise and resources,' he said.
Helen Williams, assistant director for neighbourhoods at the National Housing Federation, said: 'There are some excellent partnerships between housing associations and local authorities, but we would agree that work needs to be done to make this the norm throughout the country.'
A profile of Sir Bob Kerslake will appear in next week's Public Finance
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