There’s still a place for housing PFI
In response to your story ‘Housing PFI in doubt as Shapps launches review’ (Inside Housing, 2 July), it should be noted that the focus of the National Audit Office report was on the government procurement process in a new market and to understand the requirements involved in housing refurbishment projects.
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Once those projects were agreed, as the report identifies, there has been no further call on the government to fund these schemes.
Indeed, the projects we have been involved with in Islington and Camden, in London, have been delivered on time and to budgets agreed by both local authorities.
What must be addressed as part of the government’s examination of the PFI model is how to put an end to the long procurement process, during which both interest rates and costs can change dramatically, rendering initial project appraisals obsolete.
From the first five rounds, PFI will have built or refurbished more than 27,000 homes, where no other option was viable. As public sector cuts take effect, properly costed, well-run housing PFI schemes can continue to deliver value for money.
Jeffrey Adams, chief executive, United House Group