Prepare for the worst, says shadow minister
By Neil Merrick
2 October 2009
Social housing faces a bleak future whichever party wins the next general election, shadow housing minister Grant Shapps warned landlords.
‘Go and tell your board to prepare for the worst,’ the Tory spokesman told the chair of an association who asked what message he should relay back to his members.
A future Conservative government would allow local authorities to raise extra council tax as an incentive to support house building, Shapps said. But he declined to give any indication of the funds that would be available to social landlords until his party had reviewed the public finances. ‘It’s going to be bloody tough,’ he said.
The Tories have promised to match pound for pound the extra money that local authorities raise in council tax from new homes. For affordable housing, he said, the Treasury would pay a further 25%.
The planning system would be ‘liberalised’ to allow faster approval.
‘The next Conservative government will have a definite pro-development stance. Instead of it being feared or loathed, we will make development appreciated.’
Shapps promised to reduce the number of initiatives and let registered social landlords get on with their work.
But he chastised RSL boards that agree inflation-busting pay rises for senior staff: ‘It is surprising to discover that there are ten chief executives of housing associations who are paid more than the prime minister.’
Asked about the future of the new regulator, the Tenant Services Authority, the shadow minister gave a strong indication that it would be among the first quangos to face the axe. Mocking its ‘national conversation’ with council and RSL tenants, he said: ‘Tenants deserve first-class protection. I’m not sure that setting up an administrative bureaucracy to care for tenants is the best possible solution.’
Earlier, TSA chief executive Peter Marsh claimed the authority was saving the sector money by assuring lenders and investors that RSLs could manage risks.
‘The housing sector might have paid £100m in extra interest on the £7bn of new finance raised by housing providers in the last 12 months,’ he said. ‘With banks having lent £35bn to the sector, this works out as a £500m a year saving.’
