Housing and Regeneration Bill

My Lords, at this point in the debate, much has already been said about the Bill. I declare an interest as the chair of the Midland Heart Housing Association. Like other noble Lords, I give a general welcome to the Bill. Its provisions are timely, ambitious and urgently required. The Bill comes at a time of great need for social housing, when the traditional marketplace for housing finance has developed a degree of chronic instability. The Bill therefore offers the reassurance that housing is and remains a social priority for this Government. Your Lordships will have heard much about the key features of the Bill, not least of which are its structural provisions; namely, the powers of the regulator, the role and powers of the new Homes and Communities Agency, the Secretary of State’s possible new powers of direction, and the long-overdue powers of protection for tenants. However, much more work on the Bill needs to be done, particularly in the area described as domain regulation. As my organisation sees it, and as many housing associations have stated in representations, a clear timetable is needed for ALMOs and local authorities to be brought within the scope of the Bill’s provisions, without which there can be no level playing field. Some providers will have a distinct advantage. We also look forward to a clear statement on the key principles which will guide the Homes and Communities Agency’s programme. That guidance would be helpful, because housing associations would like to know how the transition in respect of the spending programme for the two legacy agencies will be managed in the new organisation. I want to shift the focus of the debate from the frontline activities of registered social landlords to those so-called non-housing activities carried out by many housing associations, because to the people who are on the receiving end of them the results can be life-changing. These activities are carried out by housing associations. They are not mandatory but optional. Housing associations seek some assurance, which I hope the Minister at some point will be able to give, that voluntary, non-housing activities will remain and maintain their existing status. It would be a gross understanding to assume that housing associations only build houses; we know better. Most housing associations do not just build houses; they change lives and build social capital in many of our communities. I hope that the House will permit me therefore to share a few examples of housing association activities which are being carried out by many organisations. They are not headline-grabbing; you will not see many of them in Inside Housing or in any of the publications. The National Housing Federation estimates that housing associations invest more than £500 million, providing services that go beyond their role of direct housing provision. Housing associations provide some 400,000 houses in many areas, for older groups and those needing care and support. Between 2006 and 2008, associations spent some £300 million of their own resource in providing housing and support for those who are vulnerable and need that kind of in-house support. Of course, many housing associations are in the job-promoting business, which, outside the construction industry, was responsible for some 8,000 construction jobs in the year under review. Training is an important part of their work, too: some 19,000 people per year are being assisted with training and the development of new skills. Among the activities of my own housing association, Midland Heart, is a rough sleepers programme, a community regeneration workless programme, a job replacement agency and a residents well-being programme. Of course, it is very much engaged in respect of drug dependency programmes. Clearly, a registered social landlord has responsibility well beyond the ordinary requirements, all of which demands a level of social independence, which means that they should be given the opportunity to develop, to grow and to expand. It is our view that they should not be bound by any form of legal straitjacket of the public sector, nor the laissez-faire culture of the market place. I am aware that many housing associations express concerns about the classification or designation to that of public bodies. I am equally concerned that the designation of private sector bodies denotes, probably, the wrong culture and sends an unintended series of signals as to the exact role and responsibilities involved. I prefer to describe housing associations as socially independent bodies. Before I conclude, I have a further point to make, about which representation has been made, in respect of possible added cost, which the sector is expected to absorb. As I understand it, the sector currently meets the cost of the Office of the Ombudsman, which runs to approximately £3 million per annum. It has been suggested that that cost could escalate quite significantly in respect of the office of the new regulator. Some people talk about figures in the region of £20 million, which would build a lot of new homes. Let me at this point revert to type, put on my trade union hat and invite the Minister to examine the principle of burden-sharing in respect of that cost. I do not believe that a split of 90:10 would go amiss with housing associations. In any event, for all the reasons that have been expounded in this debate, we welcome the Bill and look forward to improving its provisions in Committee.