Local authorities were this week promised a return to ‘the old days' as direct providers of social housing, although with strings attached. The housing Green Paper, announced on Monday, charged councils with increasing affordable housing, both to rent and buy, and new opportunities to build and manage new homes, alongside housing associations and the private sector. It set a target of 70,000 new affordable homes a year, 45,000 social homes annually by 2010/11, and £6.5bn invested in social housing over the next three years. Housing minister, Yvette Cooper, also announced that 10 ALMOs (Arm's Length Management Organisations) and local authority special venture vehicles had been approved to bid for social housing grant in order to build council homes. These council-backed bids will compete on equal terms with other schemes, allowing the Government to compare costs and benefits. Ms Cooper said councils building their own houses within the Housing Revenue Account should keep the income and capital returns from the new homes. The Green Paper adds: ‘If these changes were made, we might have less reason for restricting access to social housing grant only to councils developing through an ALMO or other vehicle.' However, the paper says, there must be ‘strict criteria' for selecting potential council developers, and adds: ‘In most cases, we would expect models which offer access to private finance to provide better value for money.' Councils will also be supported in creating local housing companies with partners to use their own land to build more homes. Councils will also need to identify 15 years' supply of housing land, primarily on brownfield sites. Those which ‘show a lead in delivering growth' will receive extra funding and other incentives through a new housing and planning delivery grant Ms Cooper also invited more councils to come forward to be New Growth Points, including in the north of England for the first time, and revealed the Government would intervene where councils planned to build on flood plains, but only where the Environment Agency said the risk was ‘too high'. The LGA said the financial implications over rent and right to buy represented a ‘historical break with the past'. But its chairman, Simon Milton, urged the Government not to overlook existing housing stock and continue to show a commitment to improving these homes. Institute of Housing chief executive, David Butler, welcomed the role of councils and ALMOs in meeting targets.
