13 March 2009
By Neil Merrick
About 10% of council homes could still fail to achieve the decent homes standard by the end of 2010 – twice as many as the government expected.
An analysis of local authority performance data by housing expert Hal Pawson says the proportion of housing classed as ‘non-decent’ has roughly halved from 37% to 18% since the standard was created in 2002.
The government admitted two years ago that the original target of all social housing meeting the standard by December 2010 was unachievable – partly because it was struggling to find enough money for arm’s-length management organisations.
But ministers suggested that no more than 5% of homes would be non-decent by this date. According to Pawson’s study, carried out for the Housing Quality Network, up to 14% of homes currently owned by councils will be below-standard at the end of next year.
Assuming that some of these will have been transferred to housing associations by this date, it is likely that about 10% of council homes will miss the target. Pawson, a professor at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, said the revised ministerial target looked ‘rather optimistic’.
The progress of councils towards the target varies dramatically. Twenty, including five with Almos, have already achieved the target, while four still report that 70% or more of their stock is below-standard.
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