Housing Corporation News Release

Bidding criteria for £8 billion "largest ever" investment programme announced by the Housing Corporation

Tuesday 4 September 2007      Ref: 80/07

The bidding criteria through which affordable home providers will access at least £8 billion in Government funds was announced today, with the publication of the Housing Corporation's Prospectus for its 2008-11 National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP).  For the first time the Corporation's programme covers a full three year period.

Publication of the Corporation's Prospectus follows the Housing Green Paper Homes for the Future, which announced investment of at least £8 billion in affordable housing in
2008-11, offering a £3 billion increase over the current funding period.  The Green Paper  sets out the Government's ambition to meet the country's need for social homes, to tackle housing affordability and to support quality and sustainability.

Bidders for the £8 billion Housing Corporation NAHP will have a key role in helping meet the Government's targets, increasing the supply of both social homes and affordable home ownership options to help people get a foot on the housing ladder.

In the next three years supply of new social homes will rise by 50%, to produce at least 45,000 homes in 2010/11. In addition in each of the three years funding will help produce more than 25,000 low cost homes for affordable home ownership.

The Prospectus details the exact criteria organisations will need to meet when bidding for a share of the £8 billion NAHP, both through the Partnering route and the Specialist route.  Organisations bidding via the Partnering route have already been short listed following an earlier expression of interest stage.

Housing Corporation Chief Executive Steve Douglas said,

"The Government has set out with clarity an ambition to meet the country's need for social rented homes, to tackle housing affordability and to support quality and sustainability.   As a direct result, we have been awarded our largest ever grant allocation for the third consecutive time.

"Delivering the resulting programme - providing as it does much-needed homes for those who cannot afford market housing - is a huge responsibility to be shared by ourselves and the increasingly wide range of partner organisations we work with on the ground.

"This Prospectus is the means by which we will ensure that the quality of homes we build continues to rise, as does the number of homes delivered for each pound of taxpayers' money we spend."

Higher quality standards

Expectations that bidders will reach higher quality standards are detailed both in this Prospectus and in the Corporation's Pre-Prospectus for the 2008-11 NAHP programme.

Specific criteria are set out to require bidders to:
• achieve higher quality design, with the publication of the new Housing Corporation Design Strategy and Standards;
• raise the bar on environmental standards to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes level 3; and
• grow the provision for people with particular needs by providing  homes for vulnerable people, diverse communities and for rural as well as urban environments.

Challenging regional efficiency targets

At the same time, to meet ambitious Government output targets, housing providers are asked to meet challenging efficiency targets.

• for the first time annual efficiency targets are set for each region, ensuring that the NAHP's competitive bid process delivers significant reductions better value for grant and more homes for the public money invested.
• targets range from 4.5% to over 10%, depending on the Corporation's analysis of the scope for efficiency in each area.

All queries about the NAHP should be sent to equeries.nahp@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk

A copy of the Prospectus is available from our Publications section of the website.

Ends.

Notes for Editors:
1) For further Press Office information, contact Katy Nicholson on 0207 393 2115, Naomi Evans on 0207 393 2118 or Matt Rickard on 0207 393 2078.
 
2)  Total 2008-11 NAHP output targets will be finalised following the announcement of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review for the period, due later in 2007.  The targets of 45,000 social rented homes in 2010/11 and for more than 25,000 houses for affordable home ownership annually are taken from the Green Paper Homes for the Future.  It is anticipated that, as in the past, the majority of social rented homes and of the affordable homes for sale making up the national targets will be in receipt of Housing Corporation investment.
 
3) The Housing Corporation is the Government's national affordable homes agency, responsible for investing in new affordable homes and regulating nearly 2,000 housing associations across England.  The Corporation's £8 billion investment programme for 2008-11 is its biggest ever.  Its previous investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 is funding 84,000 homes;  49,000 of these are for affordable rent, and 35,000 are  for affordable sale through the Government's HomeBuy initiatives, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.

4) The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed new homes agency.