After an uncertain life, it seems the regional housing boards are to meet a premature end. It emerged on Wednesday that the ODPM is consulting on abolishing the boards, placing a big question mark over the future of regional housing policy.

This move comes after proposals to merge the housing boards with their planning counterparts, suggesting their function was never very well defined and their work not particularly valued by the government. It may also raise the suspicion that the transfer of power to the assemblies is a political device to bolster the authority and legitimacy of regional government.

Wherever the boards’ duties end up, this week it became clearer than ever that bodies are needed to assess regional housing need and ensure that there is provision to meet that need. The ODPM announcement about the boards came on the same day as figures revealed that the number of new households in London is to be twice as high as previously expected. According to figures from the ODPM, 46,400 new households a year will be created every year until 2020. Previous estimates were based on a figure of 25,800 additional homes a year. That is 80% more than was predicted five years ago.

It would come as no surprise if responsibility for monitoring this sort of trend ended up with the regional assemblies. The deputy prime minister has never made a secret of his enthusiasm for these bodies. Despite criticisms that the last thing the country needs is more politicians, and questions regarding what exactly this layer of administration could do that the existing layers of government don’t, he has pushed ahead with this plan.

It would come as no surprise if housing ended up with the regional assemblies. Prescott has never made a secret of his enthusiasm for them

From a democratic point of view, increased responsibility for the assemblies is a good thing, placing power over social housing in the hands of elected officials. It is a neat way of deflecting accusations that non-accountable quangos such as housing boards are taking over many of government’s important decisions.

Increased democracy and greater accountability in housing would be welcomed by everybody. However, as the ODPM has not given any indication that this is the motivation behind the consultation, the suspicion will remain that housing has been viewed as something to breathe life into the idea of devolved regional government rather than the other way around.

Source

Housing Today