18 February 2005
A ground-breaking Private Finance Initiative scheme that could lead to a significant increase in social housing in north London has been drawn up by six local authorities.
The scheme, submitted to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister earlier this month, is among 11 projects competing for a place in round four of the housing PFI programme.
The six councils want to buy up private properties sold on the open market and rent them to people on the housing waiting list. Many are expected to be ex-council properties that were originally sold under the right-to-buy scheme.
Details of the PFI scheme are sketchy but a spokesman for Camden council, one of the six authorities involved, said they hoped to create a new organisation or landlord that could buy and refurbish homes using money raised through the PFI.
Although the landlord would own the homes, the councils would nominate tenants, including families living in temporary accommodation and in overcrowded or poor-quality housing.
The councils plan to introduce a choice-based lettings system, and to charge social or sub-market rents. 'It's not necessarily about bringing homes up to the decent homes standard,' said the spokesman. 'It's about providing more affordable housing.'
The project is being led by Islington council, which has already signed one housing PFI contract and has two more schemes in the pipeline. The other authorities involved are Barnet, Enfield, Haringey and Westminster.
Until now, housing PFI schemes have involved refurbishing or building new homes. Camden has one scheme at procurement stage, but a second was shelved following a ballot of tenants.
An ODPM spokesman said the government welcomed local authorities working together for PFI and other projects.
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