Government told to 'get a stronger grip' on Decent Homes programme

The Government was told today to "get a stronger grip" on a multibillion-pound programme to improve social housing in England.

The call came after a parliamentary report found ministers did not have precise figures on the cost of the work or the number of homes involved.

The Decent Homes programme has improved more than 1.1 million properties since 2001, with 810,000 new kitchens, 610,000 new bathrooms and 1.14 million central heating systems installed, said the report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

But some 305,000 homes will not meet the Department for Communities and Local Government's December 2010 target for all social housing to reach "decent" standards - with the last work not due for completion until 2018/19.

And the report said ministers' original estimate of £19 billion for the programme was "not fit for purpose".

Work bringing council and housing association homes up to decent standards will have cost local authorities and registered social landlords £37 billion by the end of 2010/11.

It was "not clear" exactly how much money DCLG has given the social housing sector to cover the cost of the programme, as the department could not say what proportion of the £22 billion it provided for repair work up to 2008/09 went on Decent Homes projects.

The cross-party committee said it was "unacceptable" that the Department lacked basic information about the programme, such as robust figures for the total number of homes made decent. Figures for improvements included some properties which were slated for demolition or where tenants refused work, said the report.

However, the committee hailed "substantial progress" towards the target of ensuring that all social housing meets decent standards.

"The living standards of vulnerable households will have been greatly improved," said the report.

"There have also been wider benefits, such as more tenant involvement in housing decisions and jobs created in deprived areas."

The report urged DCLG to improve its financial control over the programme and to do more to ensure that landlords can complete outstanding work and that improved properties do not fall back into disrepair.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "The department must get a grip on the programme and introduce improvements in almost every aspect of its management of the project.

"We are particularly concerned that the department will not do enough to make sure that landlords can complete the outstanding improvement work and that improved properties will not fall back into disrepair."

Housing minister John Healey said: "Rigorous steps, such as thoroughly assessing every bid, have been taken to ensure greater value for money from landlords, but I am working with the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency) to look at what more we can do.

"For the longer term I intend to dismantle the current system of council housing finance to ensure more money is available for councils to maintain their housing stock at a decent level for the future."

Conservative housing spokesman Grant Shapps said: "This is yet more evidence that the Government's housing policy is in chaos. They simply cannot continue to make meaningless announcements - they have utterly failed to construct the homes this country needs.

"In terms of social housing they have built fewer homes than under either of the two previous Conservative governments. With the social housing waiting list soaring to a huge 1.8 million families, their top-down, Whitehall-driven targets have failed the most vulnerable people in our society."

Meanwhile, the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) has responded to the Public Accounts Committee Decent Homes Report released this week, by defending the achievements of ALMOs in delivering the Decent Homes programme.

The report recognises the important contribution of ALMOs in bringing more than 250,000 properties up to the Decent Homes standard, but questioned why ALMOs have spent roughly £10,000 per property on improvements compared to the £6,000 per property spent by Local Authorities.

The NFA has explained that ALMOs inherited a housing stock in a worse condition than other authorities which required a greater level of investment to meet the standard.

Gwyneth Taylor, Policy Director at the National Federation of ALMOs, said: “ALMOs are spending more on Decent Homes because the ALMO programme was established specifically for those authorities that could not bring their homes back up to decency levels because their stock was in a poorer condition and they could not manage to achieve decency with their own resources. 

“If ALMOs did not have a need to spend as much, they would not have been allowed the extra funding and if they were not spending more than the other local authorities it would be a great concern.”

The NFA has also reiterated calls for the government to continue to fund the Decent Homes programme through to completion, following concerns raised in the report which states that ‘funding could be at risk given the likely pressure on public spending’.

The report also describes how a review of the business plans of 15 ALMOs by the Homes and Communities Agency, had concluded that ‘ALMOs have not been over-funded’. 

Further commenting on the report, Gwyneth Taylor said: “It is important to remember that there are degrees of subjectivity in the assessment of the Decent Homes standard – for example it is difficult to define disrepair.

"In addition it is possible for housing providers to only complete certain elements in the Standard, rather than address all of them.

“Because ALMOs had access to the extra funding, they have generally delivered works to a higher standard than some traditional retained stock authorities, in order to save money on long-term maintenance.”

Following the general election in May, the NFA, whose members manage more than half of the country’s council homes, is calling for the new government to ensure that completing the Decent Homes programme remains a priority.

The Public Accounts Committee Decent Homes Report follows the publication of a review into the Decent Homes programme in January by the National Audit Office. This report found that the Decent Homes programme is now expected to finish in 2019 – nine years after the 2010 deadline and at a cost of £37bn compared to the £19bn originally budgeted. 

ALMOs have a remarkable record of improving services and involving tenants in key decision making with 37 ALMOs having achieved the Audit Commission’s two-star rating while a further 21 have been awarded the maximum three-star rating; a track record unsurpassed by the housing association or traditional local authority sectors.