Rooker made the surprise announcement last week at an event organised by London First, as the dust settled on a whirlwind few weeks for the 90 housing associations that have made bids to the Housing Corporation.
He said: "The Challenge Fund is in its first year – it is a pilot but there will be more. We have received some excellent bids – enough for two years – so there will be more for the Challenge Fund."
An Office of the Deputy Prime Minister spokesman confirmed that the over-subscription was something the department would have to look into.
The news will be bittersweet for the many housing associations who struggled to get their bids submitted in the six weeks allowed by the government after it announced the fund two months ago (HT 19 September, page 7).
Bids which miss out in the first round will have to sit in limbo until the second round of money is in place next year.
Simon Dow, chief executive of the Guinness Trust, which made several bids in the first round, said: "What John Prescott wanted above all was deliverability, but if this money is announced along with the rest of the Communities Plan in January, then the delivery will be two to three months further down the line."
He added that the ODPM might hold back announcing the interim results of this year's bidding for the Housing Corporation's approved development programme until January to give the ODPM breathing space. This could lead to more money going to the Challenge Fund from the ADP, if no further funding was granted by the Treasury. This would spark severe criticism from Northern associations as the fund was first announced as a one-off to meet the housing crisis in the South-east.
Source
Housing Today
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