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From the archive – regulator warned to ‘skill up’ for diversified sector
Inside Housing takes a journey into the past to look at what was happening 10, 20 and 30 years ago this week
30 years ago
A private company, whose directors included council officers, was preparing a bid to run 4,000 council homes in north London.
Abode Housing stunned both councils and tenants after applying for approved landlord status on homes in Waltham Forest, Hackney, Islington and Westminster. Company directors included a council officer from Derby, and insurance and advertising consultants.
Waltham Forest asked the Housing Corporation not to approve the bid as the estates named by Abode were part of its own stock transfer plans.
In Westminster, the Maida Vale Estate, which was part of the bid, had been the focus of attention after tenants asked to be in a controversial ‘designated sales programme’.
In Islington, tenant groups described the new bid as “unwelcome but only to be expected”.
20 years ago
The Housing Corporation was told it must undergo a sea change in its outlook and operating methods if it was to continue regulating a diversifying sector.
The warning from John Belcher, chair of the National Housing Federation’s regulation panel, came as the corporation launched a consultation on its blueprint for regulating diversity.
Housing associations gave a cautiously optimistic welcome to the consultation, which recognised the widespread opposition to a previous paper issued in February. The new paper proposed a broader definition of social housing.
It said ‘control reviews’ could take place when a third or more of an association’s capital or turnover related to non-social housing activities. It also suggested that associations for whom half or more of its activities were non-social housing could face intervention.
Mr Belcher, who was also chief executive at Anchor Trust, said: “I am much happier with what they are proposing,” but added his major concern remained how the corporation would be “skilled up” for the new environment.
Picture: Matrix Law
10 years ago
Lawyers warned the government it could be sued by housing associations if it went ahead with plans that could lead them to cut rents.
The proposals, in a Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation paper, were for target rents to be reduced in line with the September Retail Price Index if it was more than 0.5% lower than the previous year’s figure.
The formula could result in a 0.9% drop in rents. But lawyers consulted by Housing Association Funding said previous DCLG papers had not compelled landlords to cut rents.
Leading QC Rhodri Thompson (above) said the consultation had been based on the false premise that rents could go down and argued the new measure could be quashed if the government was taken to court.
