Peer’s challenge next week may delay bill’s passage through House of Lords

The government is to face further hurdles in the race to push the Housing Bill through the House of Lords before the close of the current parliamentary session in three weeks’ time.

Lord Richard Best, a former chief executive of the National Housing Federation, is to force a vote on the controversial proposal to pay social housing grant to private developers when the bill receives its third reading in the Lords this Wednesday.

Speaking to Housing Today, Lord Best said that he was confident of receiving cross-bench support on the issue as well as from the Conservatives – who dropped a similar proposal in 1996 – and the Liberal Democrats.

This follows a pledge last week by the Tories that they would be prepared to see “the bill fall” over the issue of home information packs.

Best said: “My concern is whether the terms of the contract are being fulfilled 20-30 years down the line. Right now there is nothing in the proposed legislation that satisfies this.

“My proposal is a compromise – it would make it mandatory for the terms of any payment via a contract to be the same as the regulations faced by housing associations.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “We will press the government on the issue of grant to developers. Our concern is what would happen to any public funds that a developer had been given if it went bankrupt?”

The ODPM and LibDems were unable to comment as Housing Today went to press.

The move follows last week’s revelation that the government was discussing allowing private developers to bid for the entire social housing grant pot – currently £3.3bn over two years – if a proposed pilot in February next year is judged to be a success.

The NHF also attacked the ODPM this week over paying grant to developers, saying a “regulatory impact assessment” conducted by the department into the proposal was “flawed and ignored the provision of longer-term neighbourhood services”.

The trade body added that the ODPM had concentrated on the money that could be saved through introducing competition between RSLs and developers without “considering the contribution to longer-term sustainable communities”.

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

Eight housing associations are involved in three consortia shortlisted by regeneration quango English Partnerships to build 4000 affordable homes in London. The consortia are: Countryside Properties, First Base Partnership and Key London Alliance, led by Circle 33.