Ground breaking Corporation survey seeks to gain nationwide picture of local authority views on housing associations
Housing Corporation News Release
Ground breaking Corporation survey seeks to gain nationwide picture of local authority views on housing associations
22 November 2007 ref: 112/07
The Housing Corporation is inviting local authorities across England to take part in an online survey to provide feedback on their views of the performance of housing associations working in their areas. This will help the Corporation to build up a nationwide picture of authorities' relationships with associations operating in their areas.
Launched today (Thursday 22 November), the link to the Corporation survey will be emailed to all 354 local authorities who have a strategic housing role. It will consist of eight questions which are relevant to sustainable communities and housing delivery.
Each authority will be asked to provide feedback on the five largest housing associations working in their area.
Housing Corporation Chief Executive Steve Douglas said, "This is a unique opportunity for local government to provide us with their view on housing association performance. Local authorities and housing associations are key players in the delivery of housing in local areas.
"The information we receive will enable us to build up a nationwide picture of local authorities’ views on the performance of the housing association sector and contribute to delivering the place-shaping agenda."
Local Government Association Chief Executive, Paul Coen said, "As Local Authorities take on their place shaping role, it is important that we feed into the social housing regulator's assessment of leading Housing Associations performance in each area. We welcome this Corporation initiative, which aims to gather feedback on how key social landlords work with local authorities across the country."
Nicola Barron, Planning and Performance Director, The Guinness Partnership said, "We found the feedback we received from local authorities taking part in the pilot to be very useful and we are looking forward to receiving a wide range of input from local authorities when the full feedback mechanism is rolled out."
The survey will be open until 12 December 2007.
A full report of the findings will be published in early 2008.
More information on the survey will be available from a dedicated webpage at www.housingcorp.gov.uk/survey
Ends.
For further press information, please contact Sandra White on 020 7393 2094.
Notes to editors:
1. A pilot took place in March 2007. Ten local authorities provided feedback on 38 associations. The feedback received was positive and local authorities said they welcomed the opportunity to provide comments and found the survey easy to use.
2.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.
3.The Housing Corporation is also responsible for regulating housing associations, which provide some two million homes across England.
4.The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish the proposed Homes and Communities Agency and Office for Tenants and Social Landlords.
