The purge after the splurge

When I spoke to Paul Boateng on Wednesday, he was unwilling to say where the sector stood in terms of other government commitments. But the chief secretary to the Treasury was clear that it has a role in helping to solve many of the government’s big issues.

“Housing is critical to fulfilling the government’s social and economic objectives,” he said. “It has a direct impact on people’s ability to gain employment, on their wealth and also their health and education. It is central to solving those problems.” As he makes clear on page 11, the ability of the sector to deliver these improvements will be tied to their efficiency.

After the tape recorder was switched off, the chief secretary began to tell me about the important role small specialist RSLs have in the sector. He had been impressed by examples of specialist associations working with disabled or elderly people.

But to what extent will the smaller RSLs, working on expensive adaptations for example, be able to resist overtures from high-powered, high-finance suitors? Inevitably, an efficiency drive in the sector will mean rationalisation and that will lead to fewer specialist operators. And this efficiency message seems to be anything but a passing trend: as well as Boateng’s remarks, the deputy prime minister is applying more and more pressure for efficiencies (page 10) and Peter Dixon points out on page 22 that the efficiency index isn’t going away.

Inevitably, the efficiency drive in the sector will mean fewer specialist operators

However, the desire – or even requirement – to be efficient, make cost savings and streamline services does not sit easily with the demands of specialist associations that, in order to meet their tenants’ needs, have to provide comparatively expensive services. Will these be able to survive as part of a larger grouping in the efficiency age? If not, will the very services Paul Boateng admires so much have been forced out of existence by the demands of his department and the ODPM?

Boateng is also highly committed to direct payment of housing benefit. He considers that social landlords have a role in preventing the escalation of arrears for tenants getting direct payments. But that extension of the RSLs’ role will only be possible through extra resources, more staff, additional funding and, consequently, reduced efficiency.

The chief secretary is clearly committed to the sector – he was a housing lawyer in the 1970s – but the suspicion remains that the provision of social housing is not always compatible with the demands of efficiency savings.