By David Williams
8 October 2010
The LGA welcomed the minister’s announcement that councils will be able to keep receipts from rents and land sales but said billions of pounds more would be needed to bring housing stock up to the ‘decent homes’ standard. The government had pledged £3.2bn but £6bn was needed, the document argued.
‘Failure to address backlogs leads to inefficiency and waste,’ it said. ‘It leads to increasing responsive repairs on a “patch and mend” basis, and is more expensive when the works are finally undertaken.’
Local authorities are also calling on the government not to saddle them with ‘unsustainable’ debts in exchange for giving them control of their own housing finances. Under a plan drawn up by Shapps’ Labour predecessor John Healey, councils were offered the chance to buy their way out of the HRA system by taking on £3.6bn of housing-related debts currently held by the Treasury.
But the LGA document argues that while £3.6bn would be manageable, any increase could land councils with extra costs that would make it impossible for them to invest in maintenance and new house building.
Shapps has yet to confirm how much debt councils will be asked to take on.
But his October 5 announcement that the HRA will be scrapped was still widely welcomed by councils and across the housing industry.
The Chartered Institute of Housing said it was ‘delighted’, with chief executive Sarah Webb adding that the move would ‘remove a millstone from around the neck of local authorities who have been anxious for a sustainable approach to their housing finances’.
Alison Inman, chair of the National Federation of Arm’s-Length Management Organisations, said she was ‘heartened’ by the announcement.
Details of how council housing finance will work in future will be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review and written into the Localism Bill, expected in November.
8 October 2010
Councils are urging ministers not to cut capital grants for social housing, warning that a failure to invest now will only increase costs in the long term.
The calls, made in a Local Government Association’s document, published today, Council housing – efficient, effective, local, follow housing minister Grant Shapps’ announcement that he will scrap the Housing Revenue Account system.The LGA welcomed the minister’s announcement that councils will be able to keep receipts from rents and land sales but said billions of pounds more would be needed to bring housing stock up to the ‘decent homes’ standard. The government had pledged £3.2bn but £6bn was needed, the document argued.
‘Failure to address backlogs leads to inefficiency and waste,’ it said. ‘It leads to increasing responsive repairs on a “patch and mend” basis, and is more expensive when the works are finally undertaken.’
Local authorities are also calling on the government not to saddle them with ‘unsustainable’ debts in exchange for giving them control of their own housing finances. Under a plan drawn up by Shapps’ Labour predecessor John Healey, councils were offered the chance to buy their way out of the HRA system by taking on £3.6bn of housing-related debts currently held by the Treasury.
But the LGA document argues that while £3.6bn would be manageable, any increase could land councils with extra costs that would make it impossible for them to invest in maintenance and new house building.
Shapps has yet to confirm how much debt councils will be asked to take on.
But his October 5 announcement that the HRA will be scrapped was still widely welcomed by councils and across the housing industry.
The Chartered Institute of Housing said it was ‘delighted’, with chief executive Sarah Webb adding that the move would ‘remove a millstone from around the neck of local authorities who have been anxious for a sustainable approach to their housing finances’.
Alison Inman, chair of the National Federation of Arm’s-Length Management Organisations, said she was ‘heartened’ by the announcement.
Details of how council housing finance will work in future will be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review and written into the Localism Bill, expected in November.
