Local authorities and regional assemblies from across England met in London on Wednesday at a summit on how councils can clarify their strategic role in housing.

The event, organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing, was attended by representatives from 30 bodies who discussed how policy changes such as regional housing boards and the 10-year plan for local government had affected the strategic role of councils.

A local authority source said: “We are the only organisations with the statutory power to pull things together around infrastructure, health and education. However, we need to raise the profile of our housing role so that we know what we need to do going forward and so that the communities we work in know what we do.”

Merron Simpson, head of policy at the CIH, said:

“A lot of things have changed recently with regard to the strategic housing role and the summit is just the first step in a series to work out where councils go now.

“Hopefully this will mark the start of a renaissance of local authorities with regard to housing strategy.”

She added that key areas that have affected local authorities were the Housing Corporation’s new approach to investment, the regional housing agenda and the production of homelessness strategies.

As part of its programme of work over the next few months the CIH will conduct a survey of councils asking what they think are their key strategic roles and will work with the ODPM to produce a final briefing paper.

Source

Housing Today