Sir Bob Kerslake today confirmed that the Homes and Communities Agency is 'here to stay' - albeit as a smaller and more streamlined body.

Speaking exclusively to 24dash.com, the HCA's Chief Executive said his organisation would become an enabling investment agency with the emphasis being placed on local authorities to 'take the lead' on housing delivery plans.

"In line with the Government's localism approach, councils will be expected to come to us to discuss their housing requirements rather than us chasing them. The ball will be placed firmly in their court," he said.

"The new-look HCA will be based around a formula of offering expertise and developing public/private partnerships along with its core function of funding new housing."

Sir Bob would not be drawn on the number of redundancies expected as a result of streamlining the HCA but said 15% had already been taken out of its budget and efficiency measures were being put in place.

He also praised the work carried out by the Tenant Services Authority and felt there was potential for the two organisations to come under one umbrella, if the Government felt this was a viable option.

"The HCA and the TSA have always worked very well together and I do believe there is potential for the regulatory regime to sit alongside the work we do in order to deliver maximum impact from the limited funding that will be available.

"While I don't want to pre-judge the findings of the review into the TSA, I think some of the work it has done in establishing a regulatory framework and the drawing up of specific standards has been very important."

On the issue of the delivery of new housing and the availability of funding, Sir Bob admitted that while public housing completions would 'hold up' this year the number of new starts would 'inevitably' be down.

"It's impossible to say at this point how much money will be made available for new homes until we get the details from the Government's Spending Review but it's fair to say the situation we're currently in - where demand far exceeds supply - will continue for some time yet."

Sir Bob suggested that a key role for the HCA would be trying to stimulate the private housing sector as much as public housebuilding.

"I think the private sector will benefit from some of the changes to the planning system the Government is looking to introduce but of course the housing market remains very fragile at the moment and mortgage availability is something that we have no control over.

"That said, the market has recovered significantly after the credit crunch and we seem to be moving in the right direction.

"I think what you will find is that there will continue to be huge variances across the regional housing markets with the picture in the Midlands and the North very different to what is going on in the South and East."

Addressing the Government's decision to scrap house-building targets, Sir Bob said: "We all need to understand there is a different way of doing things now.

"The Government feels the best way to deliver new housing in the long term is to devolve responsibility down to local government level and we need to wait and see how this pans out.

"We are currently in a period of transition and it's far too early to make predictions on whether the new approach will have a significant impact. But to have local authorities championing new housing rather than fighting it has surely got to be a good thing."

Sir Bob was speaking from the HCA-sponsored North of England Housing Summit, where a consortium of social housing providers today unveiled a new procurement partnership designed to manage HCA funding.

Re:allies is a collaborative partnership between Procure Plus, Efficiency North and North East Procurement, which Sir Bob believes is a good example of how housing organisations can come together to make efficiency savings that are so essential in the current economic climate.

"The fact that so much good work has already been done in this area is a real credit to the organisations involved and the efficiency report they have published today shows some very powerful results from the limited funding available.

"I suppose what's important is that we spread the word about such initiatives to other housing organisations. There is a real opportunity to take this further.

"In addition to getting the best the value for money, what's so impressive about the initiative is strength of community and tenant involvement being demonstrated, which as we know is so important to the new way of doing things."