In your news item on grant for non-registered social landlords(10 December, page 7), you said the Housing Corporation had given the impression that the £200m competition was a pilot that would be subject to evaluation before any move were made to extend it.

You are confusing two issues. The corporation is running a pilot competition and we are going to evaluate it. The chancellor has now announced, in his pre-Budget statement, that non-RSLs will be able to bid in the next annual development programme round.

We will be able to learn some lessons from the process of allocating grants in the pilot round to inform the allocation process for the 2006/8 programme.

However, full evaluation of the pilot will only be possible when the first properties have been tenanted for some time. We must therefore seek to learn lessons as we go, improving the process step by step. This will help to ensure that we continue to deliver the best possible value.

Jon Rouse, chief executive, Housing Corporation

Source

Housing Today