HCA plans to recycle housing cash

Author: Regeneration & Renewal - Dec 21, 2009

England's regeneration agency has unveiled a set of proposals that would enable it to reinvest returns from its funding of affordable housing back into the delivery of further social housing.

The Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) has said that the move could see part of its National Affordable Housing Programme allocated to housing associations as an investment rather than a grant, resulting in a future return that the agency would reinvest in affordable housing "where it is needed most".

The process would be allowed under new powers in the Housing and Regeneration Act, which is due to come into force in April, that will give the HCA greater flexibility in the way it funds affordable housing, the agency said.

The HCA has launched a consultation on the plans, which is due to run until March 2010.

HCA chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake said: "Taking a return on our investment linked to an uplift in property values would maintain the value of taxpayers' money in real terms and allow us to reinvest it in more affordable homes."

He added: "We have been clear that, in the future, we will need to make our funding work harder, to do more with less, and this is one of the ways in which this could be achieved."

The HCA's announcement comes alongside the news that the agency is set to introduce pilots in six local authority areas in England designed to improve the co-ordination of capital investment in local infrastructure.

The Total Capital scheme is based on the Total Place scheme that the Government is piloting in an effort to eliminate duplication in public spending. The pilots will be in the London Borough of Southwark, Birmingham, Swindon, Leicestershire, Greater Manchester city-region and Durham.

James Morris, chief executive of think-tank Localis, said: "Rationalising funding streams allows significant sums of money to be saved, and ensures that vital investments can still go ahead in austere times."

Go to the original article here