Plans from the housing association sector to soften the blow of rent reform have been attacked from all sides this week.
A housing association chief executive told a conference this week that the National Housing Federation had not produced a viable alternative to the housing Green Paper's rent reforms.

The federation's proposals were unveiled as a "fourth way" to help associations avoid financial ruin (Housing Today, 6 July).

But speaking at the federation's development and regeneration conference this week, Yorkshire Housing chief executive Bill Payne said its approach needed to be bolder and stronger. He said: "A blunt and inappropriate mechanism just using income levels and capital values is not the right means."

He added: "Suggesting that those associations saying "this is not right" are adopting a victim attitude is not good enough."

The federation proposed a new alternative to the Green Paper's options for rent reform based on an 80:20 split between earnings and capital values, alongside a new fund for regeneration in low demand areas and special status given to RSLs at risk.

But Payne said: "Telling housing associations that are at risk they might get protected status does not help. I do not want to work in a region that only has two housing associations and no BME associations."

Instead, he suggested that funding for associations' services could be based broadly on a ringfenced housing revenue account, agreed with the Housing Corporation.

Federation director of policy Liz Potter admitted that the 80:20 proposal was a "compromise".

She said: "The key problem for us in looking at rent proposals is looking at what matters to tenants and not what matters to RSLs."

She added that there needed to be a real measure of help for associations in deprived areas.

But this suggestion was also criticised this week by a major housing body - the Chartered Institute of Housing. Writing in this week's Housing Today, institute policy analyst Mark Lupton says: "It is important that such a fund is not aimed at defending the RSL sector as it is." Instead it should support a "sensible rationalisation of the sector", but ensure that strategic capacity and diversity was not lost in the affected areas.

Source

Housing Today