Lib Dems bid to revive social housing regulation and housebuilding

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Local Government, Regulation

The Liberal Democrats will outline plans to revive social housing regulation, boost housebuilding to 300,000 new homes a year and remove the borrowing cap on local authorities to increase new supply at the party's autumn conference this month.

The proposals are outlined in a policy paper, Decent Homes for All, which aims to distance the party from its Conservative and Labour rivals on housing.

One of the biggest changes to housing policy the coalition Government - of which the Lib Dems are part - has enforced since coming to power two years ago has been the abolishment of the Tenant Services Authority and the watering down of regulation which now sees a committee inside the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) regulate proactively on only three economic standards (governance and financial viability, value for money and rent).

However, it only has the power to regulate "reactively" on consumer standards, intervening only in cases of ‘serious detriment’ and leaving boards and councillors to oversee providers’ performance.  

The Lib Dems intend to retain the current regulator but want to reintroduce “proactive regulation on the consumer standards” with a programme of inspections by the HCA or agents to act on its behalf.

The paper says: "Providers will, as before, pay for these inspections and the reports will be published to encourage sharing of good practice."

It also wants the regulator to expand its economic standards remit to councils - currently they only apply to registered providers.

The party also wants social housing providers more accountable to their tenants and warns that public funding will only go to providers that can demonstrate they are “fully accountable to their tenants”. This, it says, would include compliance with the co-regulatory principles and involvement of tenants in decisions about services.

It also wants to give tenants the right to trigger a vote on whether to move to another housing provider and bring registered providers under the Freedom of Information Act.

New homes

To achieve 300,000 new homes a year it believes investment in new social housing may incur a cash cost in the short term but "it will deliver long-term savings on the housing benefit bill". It believes such a programme could stimulate the economy, with at least 40 per cent of new build social or intermediate tenures. It also adds that such a programme demands "substantial government investment".

It says two measures likely to deliver a big impact without damaging control of public borrowing are: ensuring councils borrowing against the Housing Revenue Account doesn't add to Government borrowing figures, which could release £50bn investment in affordable housing, and for the Bank of England to extend the scope of the Quantitative Easing programme to include the purchase of social housing-issued bonds.

They also want to increase the finance available to housing associations by giving them the power to offer long-term, low interest rate mortgages on the properties they sell. This, they argue, would help first time buyers purchase a property and guarantee a steady stream of income for housing associations and local authorities to expand their stock.

It also wants to continue removing barriers to investment in the private rented sector (PRS) and encourage PRS development by urging councils to actively promote build-to-let policies in their development plans and release more public sector land.

On the future of Right to Buy it says the party "absolutely rejects the notion" that the discount regime can be nationally controlled.

Instead, it wants to pass control of Right to Buy to local authorities, who can vary discounts based on local need and keep all the proceeds, provided they are reinvested in social housing.

It says: "At the same time we would allow social housing providers to give tenants a right to invest to in their homes, which can then be used to purchase a home of their own in future."