A briefing paper from the CML said its members, which include the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, want to be consulted more closely about policy issues such as the Communities Plan and the decent homes target. The paper, co-authored by CML deputy director general Peter Williams, also warned that such discussions "might pose questions about the safety of the £27bn already advanced and the attractiveness of the future market".
The CML said it wanted to see:
- firm commitment to large-scale voluntary transfer, including reforms and improvements
- clarification of local authority borrowing powers
- the introduction of a private finance option for arm's-length management organisations.
Williams said the £1bn shortfall in the funding given to arm's-length management bodies by the government was a "classic situation to involve private finance".
The paper came just weeks before deputy prime minister John Prescott's announcement of the Communities Plan, expected in February.
The climate of uncertainty in social housing policy is unhelpful for the lending industry
Council of Mortgage Lenders briefing paper
The Communities plan is expected to reinforce government commitment to stock transfer as the principal means of bringing council housing up to the decent homes standard, albeit through a smaller-scale programme of partial transfers.
The CML paper also said that any further changes to the structure of the Housing Corporation – which last year lost its housing association inspection role to the Audit Commission – would need to ensure that regulation and investment remained under the same roof.
Williams added: "We don't believe the Housing Corporation has looked closely enough at the power of rewarding the best associations with development programmes. If regulation and investment were to be divorced [as part of the Communities Plan], this potential benefit becomes even more unlikely."
Source
Housing Today
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