the Chartered Institute of Housing said this week that councils should be allowed to set up “local housing corporations” with the same borrowing freedoms as registered social landlords.
Councils can already set up arm’s-length management organisations with greater spending freedoms. But in its response to the government’s consultation on housing capital finance, the institute said ALMOs could be stepping-stones to corporations wholly owned by the council. These corporations – which would need a performance test similar to ALMOs before getting the green light – would be able to raise funds against the value of their stock.

CIH policy director John Perry said the institute had first mooted the idea of local housing corporations in 1995. “The government’s ‘blue-skies thinking’ encourages us to think about the long-term future of council housing. This approach could be the way forward,” he added.

Source

Housing Today