05 March 2004
Councils that set up arm's-length management organisations to run their housing will be able to bid for grants to build new homes.
Housing minister Keith Hill has confirmed that Almos are covered by the clause in the Housing Bill allowing more organisations to receive social housing grant.
At present, only registered social landlords can apply for the grant, which is distributed by the Housing Corporation. Hill told the standing committee debating the Bill that competition would allow the government to build more affordable homes at less cost.
The decision was welcomed by the National Federation of Almos, which has been lobbying for Almos to take on a development role. 'It's one of the freedoms and flexibilities we are seeking so we can go beyond achieving the decent homes standard,' said policy officer Gwyneth Taylor.
Almos were more likely to work in partnership with RSLs than be in direct competition, she added. 'It will partially replace Local Authority Social Housing Grant. It will go towards the sort of thing that councils would have used LASHG for,' she added.
The federation also wants Almos to be able to borrow money in the same way as housing associations, rather than be restricted to the prudential borrowing regime which is being introduced next month for all councils.
But a long-awaited consultation paper now looks unlikely to appear until later this year. Treasury officials responsible for producing the paper are tied up with the Spending Review, said Taylor.
Private developers, meanwhile, have been warned they must build homes more cheaply than RSLs to receive grants.
Steve Douglas, the Housing Corporation's director of investment and regeneration for London, said it was wrong to assume the corporation would simply 'cut out the middle man' and pass the same amount of money to private builders.
'What we are looking for is the same number of units but not the same level of grant,' he told a Henry Stewart-sponsored conference on affordable housing in London on February 25.
Earlier, Douglas admitted that the corporation was on trial as much as RSLs and developers and must deliver better value for money.
PFmar2004
