It’s time to look again at revenue support for new build
Everyone agrees we need to build more homes for social rent and last year the rules were changed so that both Homes England and the London Mayor can help finance them via capital grant. The problem is that the sheer scale of output required – as many as 90,000 new homes per year – means […]
‘Reclassification’ is the spectre in Irish housing
Irish housing associations (‘approved housing bodies’) have had their finances reclassified so that they are part of local government, causing consternation in the sector at the threat of greater state control. This article is a response to this decision from a UK perspective, where housing associations recently faced a similar problem that has since been […]
Lifting the HRA borrowing cap should come with accounting changes
Theresa May’s announcement that borrowing caps on council housing investment will be removed was a big step in the right direction, and the issuing of draft regulations appears to confirm that the caps will be lifted at the end of this month. With reports of a Treasury fight-back, the concern was that restrictions could have […]
Why councils don’t use their borrowing capacity
Before parliament went off for its summer holidays, the housing minister Kit Malthouse said he was ‘at a loss’ to understand why councils don’t use their full borrowing capacity to build new homes. Always willing to help out a new minister, I’ll offer a quick guide to why this apparently lamentable situation has come about.
Government policy needs to return to building homes to let at modest rents
As the latest UK Housing Review is published, co-author John Perry describes how government priorities have shifted from direct investment in affordable housing to personal subsidy through housing benefit. If asked about how the government spends money on housing, most people would probably say they build council houses – but of course they’d be wrong. […]
Here’s how you can get access to all the housing data and analysis you need
For those who don’t know it, the UK Housing Review is the annual publication that charts in detail the changes in the housing market, government housing policy and investment, social housing, help with housing costs and a host of other topics. Since 1999 the Review has been published by the Chartered Institute of Housing, and […]
Poor relation
If you want to check out the government’s investment plans for housing, where do you look? Until a few years ago the details were all in one place. But new initiatives are now announced and old ones changed in every budget and spending review. And remember that in the last 15 months we’ve had four […]
What’s happening to the Affordable Homes Programme?
Ever since the Spending Review was published in November there has been uncertainty about where this leaves the HCA’s Affordable Homes Programme. In finalising the UK Housing Review, out today, we’ve been disentangling what has happened. Here is a summary of our findings although, of course, some figures may change again as a result of […]
Funding switch
Will the chancellor’s bid to halt the decline in owner-occupation work? The Autumn Statement’s extra investment for housing towards the end of this parliament is very good news. We could never hope to address our national supply crisis without government action. But the way it will be configured means a massive boost to homeownership, apparently […]
Q&A: Is there a risk that housing associations could become ‘public bodies’ and be ‘privatised’?
Why all the debate about housing associations and “public body status”? What does it mean and what are the risks and opportunities? The prime minister has called them part of the public sector and a think tank says they could be sold off in a similar way to Lloyds Bank. But what are the facts […]
John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua where he works on