Every council in England can bid for funding from a new £11m pilot scheme set up to investigate different ways of letting social housing, the government announced this week
Under the choice-based letting pilot scheme due to start next April, a total of 10-20 councils will receive grants of up to £500,000 each for their pilots. The funding for the three-year project is £6m in 2001/02; £4m in 2002/03; and £1m in 2003/04. The scheme's findings will be published in the autumn of 2003.

The scheme builds on the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' commitment to providing more customer-focused social housing lettings, which was highlighted in the Green Paper (Housing Today, 6 April).

The pilot schemes, to run over 18-24 months, should be innovative, tackle low demand, and work with local housing associations. The DETR bidding guidance says: "We actively encourage innovative proposals for promoting choice which are different from the specific approach outlined in the Green Paper, i.e. the Delft model."

Launching the scheme, housing minister Nick Raynsford said: "We are encouraging local authorities to take a partnership approach, involving stakeholders in their area....And in particular we want them to involve RSLs who may well be the main, and in some cases the only, provider of social housing in the area."

National Housing Federation policy officer Helen Williams said: "It is essential that RSLs are involved in both developing and implementing pilots if they are to test choice-based lettings that will have wider application."

Chartered Institute of Housing head of policy David Fotheringham said: "The involvement of housing associations is crucial because we are not offering tenants that much choice if RSLs are not included in this scheme."

Local Government Association policy officer Gwyneth Taylor said: "We are very committed to the concept of choice but want to be sure that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water."

She added: "In a regime which effectively allows tenants to choose options publicly, we need to be careful that vulnerable people who cannot cope with this competitive type of process do not lose out."

An advisory panel consisting of the National Housing Federation, Shelter, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Housing Corporation and the Association of London Government will help choose the final bids by next February.

Source

Housing Today