Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Accepted
Housing providers do not always build in areas of higher demand.
Recommendation
Housing providers do not always build in areas of higher demand. There is a mismatch between where housing providers build compared to areas of highest need. The Department tells local authorities how many homes, not just affordable homes, they should deliver each year but does not use the Programme to target local authorities with the highest need for housing. Under strategic bidding, housing providers only state the region, not the local authority, in which they intend to build. Local authorities lack power to shape development in their local areas and have few powers to insist that housing providers build the right type of homes for local people. Recommendation: The Department should consider how it can work with local authorities to take greater account in the Programme of local need for affordable homes.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to consider additional ways to work with LAs. The government will seek to improve this for successor programmes.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. place to match delivery with local need and engage Local Authorities (LAs). Nevertheless, the government agrees to consider additional ways to work with LAs. For example, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (the department), is currently exploring how to give greater control over the 2021 programme to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the West Midlands Combined Authority. It is the responsibility of LAs to set out their plans to address local housing need, including the need for affordable housing. Social housing providers delivering new affordable housing work strategically with LAs to address specific housing problems in the areas that they operate. LAs can also direct new housing investment to places they believe it is needed through the planning system. The government believes that affordable homes are needed across the country. Whilst there are areas with potential indicators of relatively higher need than others, such as homelessness, temporary accommodation, social housing waiting lists or local rent levels, the homes that the programme delivers in lower cost areas are still very much needed there. There are already natural incentives on Affordable Homes Programme providers to deliver homes where they are needed. Rental tenures need to be built in areas that are best suited for their future tenants, with access to jobs, local amenities, and public transport. Homes for ownership need to be in desirable locations where they will be able to sell. The government is proud that the 2021 programme goes further than its predecessor in targeting investment by focusing on benefit cost ratio, which boosts the value for money that the programme delivers. The government agrees that these assessments of benefit cost ratio can be applied in a more granular way. The government will seek to improve this for successor programmes.