NHF chair attacks funding cuts

‘The suspicion is that ministers are concentrating hard on making their sums add up. People are counting success in terms of savings made… and, dare I say it, quangoes cut,’ Mr Taylor, who stood down as MP for Truro and St Austell at the last election, told delegates yesterday at a session on ‘doing more with less’.

Mr Taylor, who is chair of the National Housing Federation, suggested ministers should instead consider ‘the success that would come’ if they concentrated on delivering new homes.

He added that housing professionals must also change tack in arguing their case for funding in the forthcoming spending review. ‘Too often there is simply discussion of grant levels and an ask for money,’ he said. ‘We need to make the case that we’re the best investment.’

Meanwhile Ross Fraser, chief executive of benchmarking company Housemark, outlined the impact of potential cuts to the national affordable housing programme. ‘There could be up to 100 [new] homes lost for every £5 million cut,’ he said.

He added that ministers should heed the example of Canada, where he said a deficit reduction programme similar to that being initiated by the UK government resulted in ‘not building any social housing for 10 years. The legacy is not a pretty one’.

West Kent Housing Association chief executive Barbara Thorndick emphasised the need to involve residents when implementing funding cuts. ‘All of us were hocking the future for the present and now it’s payback time,’ she said.

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