Housing Corporation News Release

Key role housing plays in community cohesion highlighted by Corporation Deputy Chief Executive

20/06/07     Ref: 61/07

The critical role that affordable housing plays in building integrated, cohesive and sustainable communities was highlighted today (Wednesday 20 June) by Steve Douglas Housing Corporation Deputy Chief Executive and member of the Commission on Community Cohesion.

In his speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Annual Conference in Harrogate, Steve Douglas focused on how housing providers can work towards achieving community cohesion and the value of diversity in communities.  He also recognised that affordable housing providers work in some of the most deprived areas in the country, offering not only the management of homes and services to tenants, but also to the community more widely.

In his speech, Steve Douglas announced that the Corporation:

• Will be ensuring that its impact assessments are to be extended to include assessment of the impact of its policies upon integration and cohesion.  The Corporation will also require all affordable housing providers receiving investment funding to demonstrate how this funding will assist in promoting integration and cohesion.

• Will be jointly publishing an updated Community Cohesion Guide with the Chartered Institute of Housing later this year.
 
• Will shortly launch a cohesion and integration strategy, which will for the first time create a clear link between a series of policy areas including equality, homelessness and the Corporation's neighbourhood and communities strategy.

Other key points raised included:

• The recognition that tough decisions need to be made in allocations to social housing and that there needs to be greater transparency about how and why decisions around allocations, letting and investments is needed. They should be not only be fair but be seen to be fair. 

• The Corporation's focus on the importance of promoting community cohesion in the fact that it has launched an additional theme for its Gold Awards - 'Building Cohesive Communities'.

Steve Douglas, said; "Our shared future sets out a clear challenge both for the Housing Corporation and affordable housing providers and local authorities.

"Housing providers are critical in building cohesive communities - playing a key role as building blocks in successful neighbourhoods, working with local authorities to support integration and to address the challenges that cause community breakdown and tension. 

"The fact that we have announced 'Building Cohesive Communities' as a Gold award theme illustrates how we want to highlight the best of what the sector is doing, and make this the norm.  The Housing Corporation will also be asking our investment partners to demonstrate how they are taking account of community cohesion in their plans.

"I believe that housing providers, working with the Housing Corporation and with local authorities, can create a shared future, and make a real difference to people's lives."

Ends.

Notes to Editors
1) For further press information, please contact Naomi Evans on 020 7393 2118.

2) Steve Douglas is currently the Housing Corporation Deputy Chief Executive. From the 2nd July he will be the Corporation’s Acting Chief Executive.  He is also one of the new Commission on Integration and Cohesion's 13 commissioners.   The Commission was launched in August 2006 and published its report ‘ Our Shared Future’ in June 2007.

3) The new Gold award themes were launched at the CIH Conference in Harrogate on Tuesday 19 June.  The themes are:
• Building Cohesive Communities
• Tackling Worklessness
• Delivering Joined-Up Development.

4) The Corporation's requirement that all affordable housing providers receiving investment funding need to demonstrate how this funding will assist in promoting integration and cohesions will become an integral part of the Corporation's new approach to method statements.  This has been signposted in the 2008-11 pre-prospectus and will be live in the forthcoming main prospectus.

5) The CIH conference is taking place at the Harrogate International Conference Centre, Tuesday 19 June to Thursday 21 June 2007.

6) The Housing Corporation is the Government agency responsible for investing in new affordable homes and regulating nearly 2,000 housing associations across England.  Its biggest ever investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 will fund 84,000 homes;  49,000 of these will be for affordable rent, and 35,000 will be for affordable sale through the Government's new HomeBuy initiative, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.

7) The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed new national housing and regeneration agency, Communities England.