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Homes England chair-elect would assess social housing funding based on potential homeowner shortfalls
The prospective chair of Homes England would work out how much social housing is needed by analysing the percentage of the population that cannot afford to buy a home, he has told MPs.
Peter Freeman, the government’s preferred candidate to chair its housing delivery agency, hinted at his approach to calculating social housing need in England while facing questions from the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Select Committee yesterday.
Asked how he would approach the issue of social housing need, Mr Freeman said: “I guess I would start with waiting lists and realistic estimates of what percentage of the population are unlikely under any homebuying programme to be owner-occupiers in the next 10 years and be looking for the shortfall.”
MPs on the committee also asked if he agreed with the HCLG Committee’s recommendation that the government should set out how much social housing the country needs and then create a clear plan for how to deliver it.
In response, Mr Freeman said: “Sounds sensible to me. If there was more detail with it I would have liked to have read the detail first.”
He had told MPs earlier that he felt Homes England’s programme needed to work at a “lot of different entry levels” such as renting, buying, and there wasn’t a “one-size-fits-all approach”.
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He admitted that he had not read the HCLG Committee’s July 2020 report, which set out a number of recommendations to government.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick announced Mr Freeman as his choice to replace Sir Edward Lister as Homes England’s chair last month.
Mr Freeman is a co-founder of property developer Argent, and a board member at Mayfield, which is half-owned by Clarion Housing Group.
The committee grilled Mr Freeman about his involvement in the companies and potential conflicts of interest.
Argent’s sister company Argent Related has received some support from Homes England but Mr Freeman does not have a financial interest in this project. On Tuesday, Mr Freeman confirmed that he will not have any financial interest in any Argent or Argent Related Projects apart from Kings Cross, which is now nearly complete and will not be seeking funding from Kings Cross.
He said that he has offered to step down from the Mayfield board if any allocation is made from Homes England, but that he will not sell his stake immediately.
“If I was to sell my stake now when it is unallocated, unless I retained an upside, which would defeat the point of selling it, I would undoubtedly sell it at a very substantial loss,” he explained.
Mr Freeman was also asked for his views on the 80:20 funding rule, which has been criticised for directing more housing cash to London and the South East.
“There’s a lot more statistical work to do and geographical mapping to do to work out how you deliver housing so it produces the most benefit to the economy and communities rather than just addressing one issue at time,” he said.
Update 13/10/2020 15:59 This article was updated with additional information outlining the level of financial interest Mr Freeman has in various Argent development projects.
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