Plans to boost affordable housing could be scuppered, NHF warns

The government’s failure to challenge a European Commission
ruling could scupper a drive to improve and provide housing for
vulnerable people, according to the National Housing Federation,
writes Shirley Kumar.

The NHF which represents 1,400 not-for-profit housing
associations in England, said a new classification towards a
‘public body’ could lead to a delay in building extra
care housing, new homes for groups such as the homeless, and
adaptations for disabled people.

 “New regulations would place an onerous bureaucratic
burden on housing associations and frustrate efforts to boost
affordable housing supply through efficiency gains in the
sector,” said an NHF spokesperson.

However, the move could be a step closer for vulnerable people
on short hold tenancies or those threatened with eviction for
antisocial behaviour, to be offered protection under the Human
Rights Act.

A spokesperson for the Office of Deputy Prime Minister said:
“(The ruling) is not the outcome we would have wished.”
However, the spokesperson assured housing associations that the
reclassification would not affect their ability to obtain private
finance or make them more accountable under the Human Rights
Act.