On June 24th Sue Essex, Peter Williams and Bob Smith unveiled the long awaited report from the Affordable Housing Task and Finish Group - the Essex Review.
In responding to the publication of the review Jocelyn Davies AM, the deputy Minister for Housing described the report as "Seminal".
And seminal it is. Whilst we have seen the policy development of English Social Housing affected by reviews from Barker, Calcutt, Hills, Elton and Cave the Welsh policy scene has remained largely untouched since the merger of Tai Cymru into the National Assembly in the late 1990s.
Community Housing Cymru have long argued that the regulatory balance on voluntary housing organisations was wrong, and that through failing to get the best out of the largest part of the social economy in Wales, there was a danger that Wales would miss out on the additional investment benefits the sector can bring at a time when the limits on the growth in public spending in Wales is tighter than ever, as evidenced by the recent Comprehensive Spending Review.
We argued that effective regulation as well as collaboration between providers and the use of housing association assets and resources should be maximised, making best use of every one of Sir Jeremy Beecham’s "Welsh pounds".
Housing association assets in Wales are worth approximately £3b and have been under utilised by the constraining regulatory environment in which they operate. Housing associations are social enterprises, with tenants making up over one quarter of Board members. They are the main providers of new affordable homes and are significant investors in community regeneration. To play a greater part in regeneration, in a way which is consistent with the ambitions set out in ‘Making the Connections, we believed that a fundamental review of their regulatory environment was necessary.
At the launch of the Essex Review, Peter Williams noted that whilst the Task and Finish group’s work had originated from calls within the Housing Association sector movement for a review of regulation, the terms of reference for the review where broader. With hindsight this appears to have been a very wise and fortuitous move.
In January this year Community Housing Cymru asked for four key reforms for the sector- reform of Section 9 consents for property disposals and charges, greater freedom of the Group structures circular, reform of the development process and a genuinely risk based inspection regime. There are some specific constraints which prevent associations from servicing additional borrowing:
· Limits on association investment in housing and other community projects where there is no Social Housing Grant – under existing policy associations cannot use grant funded assets to support non-grant funded activity so homes cannot be used as security for borrowing to fund such schemes.
· a continued annual bidding and allocation round for Social Housing Grant which prevents associations (and the consortia they have created to improve efficiency in procurement) associations from giving contractors and their suppliers the commitment to long-term (3 or 5 year) contracts which would lower risks, reduce costs and maximise opportunities for local people to get the chance of training, apprenticeships and work.
· Associations are prevented from developing homes for sale – preventing cross subsidy and the development of mixed tenure schemes. (English associations can do this)
· The current association inspection programme run by the Wales Audit Office as agents for the Assembly Government is slow, process dominated and expensive. At the same time we felt that the regulation of finance and governance were neglected.
The Essex report supports all of these requests; but having ploughed through a mountain of evidence the Essex review does a whole lot more: the interim report supported flexibility in purchasing existing stock, environmental pilots and the decentralisation of Physical Adaptation Grants.
The report recommends a more strategic role for the Housing Division with a change programme to support this. Further innovations include access to the Strategic Capital Investment Board and the creation of a new Regulatory Board giving the sector a stakeholder role.
However, the report doesn’t just challenge WAG. Achieving greater provision of social housing in Wales as well as ensuring that the not for profit Housing sector can make a full contribution to regeneration in our most deprived communities, tackling carbon reduction, fighting fuel poverty, assisting in mortgage rescue, financial inclusion and care are challenges not just for WAG but for the whole sector, as well as some of our key stakeholders notably local government.
The report describes the housing sector as "a dynamic, expansionist and highly professional set of social businesses" so I’m confident that the sector is equipped to rise to the challenge of change.
Over the summer 2008 CHC collaborated in the change programme in partnership with WAG and local government and on the 18th of September we hosted a conference with the WLGA titled: "Affordable Housing Challenge for Wales: Taking the Essex Review Forward".
To view video clips from the conference, including Sue Essex, The deputy Minister for Housing, Jocelyn Davies AM and Mick Maguire, Council of Mortgage Lenders, click on the link below.
http://www.greatgovernance.blogspot.com/
For presentations from CHC's Essex Review Conference on 18 September 2008, see here
To view the full review click on the resource above.
Workstreams have been set to implement the recommendations of the Essex Review, and their progress can be found on this website or on the Welsh Assembly Government Website by clicking www.wales.gov.uk/housing>www.wales.gov.uk/housing or www.cymru.gov.uk/tai href="file://www.cymru.gov.uk/tai">www.cymru.gov.uk/tai>www.cymru.gov.uk/tai >he
A further event was held in Liberty Stadium on the 29th of April on Implementing Essex. For further information please click here.