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The biggest house-building programme for almost 20 years is under way and local authorities are playing a leading role, as John Healey explains. Across the country, communities are facing a shortage of affordable homes. Despite the tough economic times, all of us, including councils, must do more to tackle this problem. "But there is no going back to those pre-recession days, and those of us involved in house-building... need to find new ways of working to build the homes our communities need." That's why, since becoming housing minister in June, I have backed councils which want to build new council homes, and I have already launched the biggest building programme for almost 20 years. I've also helped the house-builders who need a kick-start for their stalled sites, and the housing associations willing to build extra, affordable homes – a total of £1bn released in just four months, with more to follow in coming months. I am proud that we haven't reacted as the Government did during the 1980s and 1990s – stepping back to let recession run its course and leaving recovery to the market. The power of government investment is helping the country through, by building the homes we need and creating the jobs to keep people in work. But there is no going back to those pre-recession days, and those of us involved in house-building, from councils to construction companies, need to find new ways of working to build the homes our communities need. We have to test new ways of funding and building the homes we need, to bring into house-building new firms, new skills, new techniques and new technologies – the Public Land Initiative, part of the £1.5bn Housing Pledge, is one way of doing just that. Public agencies, including government, provide the land, but take out the upfront costs and risks involved in site purchase and preparation. A panel of approved partners will also be selected, reducing the contract bidding and procurement costs for public sector organisations, including councils, that want to build homes this way. But this is not a one-way deal, and in exchange for reduced risk, developers will take a smaller profit. This is a New Deal in house-building. It comes with new terms of partnership for the public and private sectors, with the Homes and Communities Agency, public authorities and developers working together in a new way to build the homes we need in Britain. We are testing this new and innovative business model first on land currently owned by the HCA, but councils, whose surplus local authority land is estimated to be enough for at least 100,000 new homes, can take advantage of this new approach. Even at this early stage, there is a high level of interest in the Public Land Initiative shown by councils. Representatives from 45 local authorities across the country recently attended a seminar to learn more about how they can get involved and what the next steps are. They have been quick to see the benefits this could bring for them – including access to the delivery partner panel, reducing the length of time it takes to find a suitable developer for sites, and help ensure the quality of the finished development so the homes built are fit for the future. I am also encouraged by councils showing they are ready to share the best of their practices, including standard legal documents to cut down transaction costs. This local authority interest is matched by that of the industry – not just from traditional house-builders, but from construction companies looking to expand into the sector. At the start of the Homes and Communities Agency's formal procurement process in July, 132 companies completed the pre-qualification questionnaire, and 40 have been short-listed. Of these 40, 16 – more than one-third – are construction companies looking to expand into housing development, and 13 are traditional housing developers. I will be announcing final decisions on the firms that make our panel in December of direct delivery partners, with building work starting at the first site as early as April next year, and the first 50 new homes finished within 12 months of that. At this time, when government at national and local level must be ready to innovate to meet the public service challenges ahead, I see our Public Land Initiative as one way in which we must redefine the potential and practice of public-private partnerships. Find out more at the Public Land Initiative John Healey is minister for housing

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Building a better future

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