Housing Corporation News Release

Tuesday 23 September 2008     ref: 68/08

Annual viability reviews of housing associations set to get underway

The Housing Corporation’s 2008 assessment of the financial viability of housing associations will be overseen by a panel made up of senior Housing Corporation regulation staff and external consultants.

The panel will consist of five members: Housing Corporation Director of Regulation Clare Miller, who will be the chair, Housing Corporation Head of Financial Regulation Jonathan Walters, Housing Corporation Deputy Director of Regulation Mick Warner and two external consultants drawn from a panel of four firms, with membership rotating to avoid conflicts of interest. The four firms involved are:

• Grant Thornton;
• KPMG;
• PKF; and
• Tribal Group.

Housing Corporation Director of Regulation Clare Miller said, “Our new validation process is designed to provide enhanced comfort to those who depend on our assessments - including the soon to be launched Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the wider lending market, boards and tenants. This is part of a package of improvements to the way we regulate being introduced as we move towards the formation of the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).”

The panel will review assessments made by regional financial appraisal teams to ensure the judgements are robust and consistent nationally. This will ensure the Corporation is spotting any organisations feeling the strain of the current economic environment, enabling it to intervene effectively.

The new system will be carried over to the TSA, the new social housing regulator responsible for ensuring the viability of registered providers. The TSA is due to be established in December 2008.

The panel will sit for the first time on Thursday 2 October.

Ends.

For further press information please contact Terry Sefton on 020 7393 2118.

Notes to editors

1) The Housing Corporation is responsible for regulating housing associations, which provide some two million homes across England.

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 £8.4 billion investment programme for 2008-11 is its biggest ever. Its previous investment programme of £3.9 billion for 2006-08 funded 92,752 homes - 52,929 of these for affordable rent and 39,823 for affordable sale through the Government's HomeBuy initiatives, helping people to get a foot on the property ladder.

3) The Housing Corporation is working with English Partnerships and Communities and Local Government to establish two new bodies, the  Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Tenant Services Authority (TSA) which are due to launch this December.