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From the archive - warnings over housing association grant cuts
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
Housing associations were warned of a risky future, with a consultation by Margaret Thatcher’s government proposing a raft of grant cuts.
Associations were facing an average of 50% grant for new build homes, below what they were then used to, as well as cuts to grants to carry out major repairs on existing homes.
The idea was to “force associations to stand on their own feet”, Inside Housing’s front page reported.
“The test of management competence will be severe. Success will have its own reward: failure will mean real losses for which there will be no safety net of the deficit grant to fall on,” the government proposed.
In a sign of the changing fashions of housing jargon, Inside Housing reported that the term “affordable” rent was about to be phased out and replaced with “sensible rent”.
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20 years ago
Civil servants were pondering curbs on the right to buy for tenants whose homes were being transferred away from local authorities.
This was because funders were worried about investing in expensive repairs and refurbishments, and then having to sell the homes at such a steep discount they would not recoup their losses. Department of the Environment officials were considering changes to reassure these private funders that their money was not at risk.
Helen Burgoyne, associate director at Savills at the time, warned: “It’s potentially a big problem. These transfers are going to be hard enough to fund as it is.”
The then-housing minister Hilary Armstrong was understood to be reluctant to approve measures that appeared to reduce tenants’ rights.
The difficulty for ministers was that tenants would be less likely to vote for a transfer if they felt their right to buy would be curtailed.
Legal challenges could also be raised.
Inside Housing’s editor at the time, Julian Dobson, warned that Mr Armstrong appeared “unsure which way to jump”. He added: “But the problem must be overcome.”
10 years ago
Families faced a wait of 10 years or more for a family home, Inside Housing revealed. In Westminster, families were looking at a wait of 27 years for a four-bedroom home – meaning they’d only be housed in 2034. Families faced waits of 17 years in Bromsgrove and 14 years in North Devon.
A survey by Inside Housing of 51 local authorities focused on the length of wait for a family home with three or more bedrooms. Loss of stock through the Right to Buy was cited by councils as one reason for the wait, along with a planning and subsidy regime that favoured flats.
Hillingdon Council told the magazine that of the 1,500 homes built or under construction in the borough at that time, only 40 were family homes.
