19 June 2008
Local government leadership is crucial to the housing sector overcoming the credit crunch, the head of a new multibillion pound regeneration agency said this week.
Responding to a government appeal for help in promoting an upturn in the housing market, Sir Bob Kerslake said any attempt to bypass councils was doomed to failure. 'The leadership role has to lie with local authorities. There is no substitute for that,' he told the Chartered Institute of Housing's annual conference in Harrogate.
But Kerslake, chief executive designate of the Homes and Communities Agency, stressed that local authorities must look beyond their borders and work with other bodies. 'We need to have an honest conversation about skills and capability,' he told delegates on June 17. 'Out of that we should get an integrated approach.'
The HCA is due to take over from the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships by next April.
Earlier at the conference, housing minister Caroline Flint invited the agency and the bodies that it will replace to suggest how social landlords and housebuilders can minimise the problems facing homeowners and families on council waiting lists. 'If there are ways that we can use our affordable housing programme or land assets to maintain housing numbers, prepare for a speedy recovery, and support families facing difficulties, we will use them,' she said.
Revealing that the HCA will save 'around a billion pounds' during its first five years – enough for 15,000 social homes – Flint also called for ideas for social housing ahead of a green paper later this year.
'I hope you are prepared to come out of your comfort zones and acknowledge that sometimes collectively our best intentions don't always result in the best outcomes,' she said, adding that poor local practice could be at fault as much as central control.
Sir Simon Milton, chair of the Local Government Association, said the government must stop 'micro-managing' the housing sector. Reiterating earlier LGA forecasts of soaring waiting lists unless council finance rules are relaxed, he said: 'Local government will stand firm against Nimbyism and deliver the homes that people want to live in, but only if we've got the tools to do the job.'
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