Learning4Housing: Housing Revenue Account to go!!

Learning4Housing: Housing Revenue Account to go!!: "At last, the much-maligned housing revenue account, with its' absurd subsidy system, is to be abolished. The review which had begun under th..."

Housing Revenue Account to go!!

At last, the much-maligned housing revenue account, with its' absurd subsidy system, is to be abolished. The review which had begun under the Brown government has been accepted by the coalition and the days of council housing departments  not being able to spend the money they raise from rents are finally numbered. More details are due to be announced as part of the CSR later this month, and the issue of housing debt and how this will be settled is one which many councils will be looking out for. I hope that the good news about abolition of the HRA will not be spoilt by a potentially damaging policy on outstanding debt. Watch this space.

Who benefits? Who cuts?

So, the picture is slowly emerging from the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham about how the coalition government is going to tackle the so-called benefit culture. The finer details are still to be announced, and no doubt the comprehensive spending review later in October will provide the flesh on the bones. But how will all this affect the social housing sector? Although it is unlikely that many people living in social housing will be affected by the loss of child benefit, there are real possibilities that social tenants will be faced with real benefit cuts which could lead to increases in child poverty, social exclusion and generally lower living standards?. Are the policies of the coalition government really aimed at 'the national interest' or are there more ideological forces at work here? However, these are very early days and it would be interesting to hear others' views on this.

Social Housing and Home Ownership

Michael Portillo has been telling the National Housing Federation conference that if he was in government, he would be pressing for large reductions in social housing as a means of pushing for greater levels of home ownership. He cites a correlation between occupation of social housing and worklessness, but without any analysis of whether there is a causal link between the two issues. At the present time, to push people into home ownership who are at the margins of being able to afford to do so, could be consigning them to years of debt and misery. And remember, mortgages are only likely to increase, which could go along with house prices falling,  which could result in people believing that they are able to sustain the payments, only to find that they are unable to do so, and also perhaps being left in negative equity too. We all need to learn lessons from the past if we are to develop a truly sustainble housing policy which caters for all, including those who are unable to afford home ownership. Does society need to rethink its obsession with home ownership and to view renting - whether within the private or social sector - as being just a different route to ensuring that we have somewhere to live and call home?

David Wardle
www.learning4housing.co.uk