Transcript Slide 1
Future activities of the Homes and
Communities Agency
Dan Jackson
13th December 2010
The vision
The HCA is changing to reflect the Government’s new
direction
The Agency will be a smaller and more strategic
enabling, investment and regulation agency
– working with local authorities and their communities at their
request
– ensuring Registered Providers are economically well run and
financially viable
– with a stronger role for local leadership
“The people you call to get things done”
– Grant Shapps, Housing Minister
As a national agency that delivers
locally the new HCA will…
Provide practical, innovative and co-ordinated support
– to deliver local ambitions for housing and regeneration
– in a way that would otherwise be more expensive and difficult
to achieve
– while withdrawing from areas better led by others
Embed localism at the heart of every activity
– to put communities in charge and support people to meet their housing
aspirations
– while increasing accountability and transparency
Maximise the potential of private and institutional investment
– and secure the best outcomes and value for money from limited public
resources
– while reducing costs significantly
The HCA offer
As an enabling, investment and regulation agency our
offer will have four main parts
– driven by what local areas need, developed through local
investment planning
Investment
Enabling
support
Maximising
assets for
local benefit
Supporting
local
delivery
and services
through
regulation
Investment –
Three areas of activity
Affordable housing
Total investment of
£4.5bn over the
spending review
Completion of existing
commitments under the
NAHP
A new affordable
housing programme, up
to 150,000 homes,
many at the new
affordable rent
Continuing provision for
mortgage rescue,
Places of Change and
Gypsy and Traveller
sites and for bringing
empty homes back into
use
Existing stock
A £2.1bn programme of
investment needed to
deal with repairs
Reaching a point where
self-financing becomes
viable
Enabling local
authorities to connect
this investment to other
opportunities, especially
around energy
efficiency
A key test of our
investment and
enabling role combined
Land & regeneration
Using public land
assets to deliver value
and benefits for local
communities
A central role in
realising benefits from
the land assets left by
the RDAs
Access to £1.3bn fund
for completion of
existing regeneration
commitments that are
high priorities for local
areas
These programmes will be at the heart of the new HCA’s place making activity
Investment – A new approach
to affordable housing
Government’s new “Affordable Rent” offer in return for investing in
new supply:
– rents set at up to 80% of market levels
– tenancy agreements that can be reviewed after a fixed period
– ability to convert existing social homes to affordable rent at point of relet
Rent and tenancy terms for existing tenants will not be affected
Funding remains for empty homes, Mortgage Rescue, Places of
Change and Gypsies & Travellers
Low Cost Home Ownership supported where it’s a local priority
The new approach allows greater flexibility to make public
investment go further
– details of how this model will be implemented will be developed over the
coming months
Local Investment Planning –
The overall framework
Local investment planning provides the overall framework for the
HCA at a local level. Local investment planning is:
– a voluntary process: when asked, no local authorities expressed a wish
to discontinue developing their plans
– a locally led process: the HCA supports local authorities to develop the
plans, based on their own criteria for prioritising investment; and
– A collaborative process: producing shared but locally-owned housing
and regeneration ambitions
The HCA is working with 160 local partnerships, the majority of
which will have completed their plans by Autumn 2010
– e.g. the HCA has supported seven local authorities in Cumbria to agree
a common framework for housing investment, making decisions
consistent and mutually supportive
Local Investment Planning –
Three Processes
Guiding the HCA’s
local offer
Local investment planning will play a central role in guiding the delivery of
specific investment programmes
It will also provide the basis for establishing what other support local areas
request from the Agency
Informing resource
allocation
Local investment planning can help support a localist approach to allocating
resources
The detailed intelligence provided by local investment plans ensures that new
investment is applied to meet local need
Maximising impact
Local authorities find the planning process valuable in helping them to
maximise the impact of all available investment
It does so by providing the basis for co-ordination across public and private
investment, and in identifying the areas of greatest impact
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