Housing chiefs fear coalition government

Mike Creamer, chief executive of Contour Housing Group, said the views of the two parties on social housing ‘are not exactly aligned’.

‘Much of the Lib Dem manifesto centres around the “green” housing agenda and looking at ways to bring empty homes up to the decent homes standard to get them back on the market,’ he said.

‘The Tories want to focus on right to buy and giving tenants 10 per cent equity in their home.We are faced with two inexperienced governments and the worry is that between them they could get it horribly wrong – or if you are an optimist they could get it spectacularly right.’

Discussions between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are continuing today after the Conservatives secured the largest number of seats in last week’s general election, but failed to win an overall majority. Labour is also open to talks with the Lib Dems if negotiations with the Conservatives fail.

Gareth Swarbrick, chief executive of arm’s-length management organisation Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, said: ‘It is vital that the new government, if it is to be a Conservative/Lib Dem coalition, gives a clear indication of its likely approach on housing revenue account reform. This issue is so vital to many ALMOs and tenants that the issue cannot be allowed to drift. We need to be able to plan and make decisions now for the long-term benefit of local communities.’

Other commentators suggested the outcome of the election could lessen the immediate impact of anticipated public spending cuts.

Peter McCormack, chief executive of Derwent Living, said: ‘From a housing point of view the Conservatives won’t be able to push through cuts quite as hard and fast in a minority administration. We will face cuts, clearly, but they might not be as severe now the election has gone to a hung parliament.’

Ben de Waal, head of residential and land remediation at consultancy Davis Langdon, added: ‘The required cuts and other tough decisions are unlikely to happen as a result of inevitable compromises necessary to keep everyone happy. In the short term the existing programmes and government agencies could potentially remain unaffected but their effectiveness could be significantly constrained in the absence of a clear medium term remit from central government.’

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