The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has welcomed the £300m Affordable Homes Programme top announcement but flagged the urgent need for a new longer-term fund.

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:

“Many of our members have reported that the £500m top up announced in the Autumn Budget was running out, so this extra £300m of funding is welcome news. With housing waiting lists growing fast in the North and over 12,000 households living in temporary accommodation we desperately need more social housing.

“However, we need a longer-term affordable homes programme to be announced as soon as possible, ideally as part of Chancellor’s statement on 26^th March. The affordable housing development process is complex, and our members say it normally takes two to three years from obtaining a grant agreement from Homes England to completing a development. The lack funding certainty over the next few months risks identified sites not being progressed and puts government housebuilding targets at risk.”

The government announcement also features plans to:

• £50 million increase to the Local Authority Housing Fund to provide homes for those in need of better-quality temporary accommodation.
• Crack down on exploitative behaviour by rogue and criminal supported housing landlords – further details are expected shortly.

 

Building on extensive engagement with members and Government, we have submitted a detailed response to His Majesty’s Treasury’s call for feedback on government spending priorities ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review.  

Our response sets out the role of housing providers in the North in unlocking economic growth and supporting the Government to deliver real change. It highlights the unique opportunities and challenges for members and communities in the North.  

Our submission covers the importance of: 

• Housing-led regeneration as a priority for the North, alongside investment in new and existing homes. 

• Introducing longer term funding with more local control and flexibility, which builds on the North leading the way with devolution and genuinely enables delivery across different housing markets. 

• Giving local and combined authorities the right resources to make a difference. 

• Supporting social housing’s role in making Britain a clean energy superpower 

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:  

“The social housing sector in the North is ready to act. We sit at the heart of devolution and have a strong track record of collaboration. We can go further and faster in our bid to tackle the housing crisis, and deliver economic growth, with the right support from the Government. 

“Housing quality is a big issue in the North, affecting the health and wellbeing of thousands of Northerners, particularly in the private rented sector. Regeneration must be at the front and centre of government policy, alongside building new homes. Our spending review submission calls for a dedicated funding stream of £1.37 billion over 5 years for place-based renewal, alongside continuing flexibility in a new Affordable Homes Programme to support regeneration.  

“Our members are regulated on the quality of their homes and their service to customers so rightly must prioritise finite resources to these areas. This means that long term funding for improving existing homes and places will unlock more investment and capacity for building new homes.  

“The spending review should embrace recommendations in the English Devolution White Paper and deliver more local control of funding. The North is leading the way with devolution and ‘one size fits all’ centralised funding pots often do not meet the diverse needs of Northern communities. The Government should also review how it measures value-for-money to capture the widest possible social and economic benefits and unlock more delivery in the North. We have also strongly advocated for local authorities to receive the right level of investment to take a leading role in tackling the housing crisis in their area. 

“Housing Partnerships across the North have fed into and supported our spending review submission. If Government wants to make quick progress on its housing priorities, working with the NHC and our members will unleash established partnerships that are ready and willing to deliver on the government’s housing and growth agendas.” 

The outcome of the Spending Review will be announced this summer and will set budgets departmental budgets for future years. In the run up to this we will continue to engage with politicians and civil servants highlighting how the housing sector in the North can work in partnership with the Government to achieve shared objectives.  

You can read the full response or our executive summary here.  

If you would like to discuss this submission further or be part of follow up work contact:  

Patrick Murray, NHC Executive Director Policy & Public Affairs 

Email: patrick.murray@northern-consortium.org.uk   

The Northern Housing Consortium spending review submission has been backed by the Housing Partnerships across the North. A big thank you to:  

• Greater Manchester Housing Providers 

•  Liverpool City Region Housing Associations 

•  North East Housing Partnership  

• South Yorkshire Housing Partnership 

•  Tees Valley Housing Partnership 

•  West Yorkshire Housing Partnership  

• York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership.

We recently responded to the Government’s consultation on future rent policy. The Government initially proposed a new rent policy of ‘CPI+1%’ for five years from April 2026. They sought views on extending the rent settlement and wider potential changes to social housing rent policy, through the consultation.

As part of our response, the NHC, Chartered Institute for Housing, National Housing Federation, Local Government Association, Association of Retained Council Housing, the National Federation of ALMOs and the Councils with ALMOs Group, commissioned analysis by Savills Affordable Housing demonstrating the impacts of different rent policy proposals.

This analysis, as well as a joint letter, has been shared with the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as officials in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

A summary of our response is below:

• We argued that the proposed rent policy of CPI +1% for five years would go some way to improve the finances of the housing sector and maintain current levels of delivery, although this has been undermined by the increase in employer national insurance contributions. If the government wants the housing sector to go further on delivering new homes, improving housing quality and energy efficiency, then this settlement will be insufficient.
• Instead, the NHC believes that the government should extend the proposed rent settlement of CPI+1% for 5 years to 10 years. This will increase the capacity for investment in new and existing homes by reducing the cost of debt faced by affordable housing providers, allow them to plan investment and development programmes with greater confidence, and provide the affordable housing providers in the North with an additional £18.68 billion of income to invest in homes over their 30-year business plan period.
• Furthermore, we believe that there is a strong case for government to reintroduce rent convergence at either £2 or £3 per week, as part of the next rent settlement. This would provide additional income for providers, especially local authorities, to invest in homes and ensure that affordable homes are let at the correct rent levels. This will also put the housing sector’s finances on a more sustainable footing in the longer term, significantly improving the position of Housing Revenue Accounts and housing association interest cover.
• It is also important to highlight that if these changes were implemented, social housing rents in the North would remain affordable for tenants, while the housing sector would be in a significantly stronger position to meet the multiple challenges it faces, and to support the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes across this parliament. Social rents in the North would still be significantly lower than their equivalents in the private rental sector, especially in major cities and areas with acute affordability issues.

Our full response can be accessed here.

Please contact tom.kennedy@northern-consortium.org.uk if you have any questions.

 

 

The English Devolution White Paper published this week, is big news for the North.

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:

“Since the Commission for Housing in North in 2016, we’ve been calling for more local control to drive growth and opportunity in the North, and to make sure the diverse needs of communities across the North are met.

“Deeper devolution – including planning, skills and transport – to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), is very welcome. MCAs are well set up to convene and work with partners, including local authorities and housing partnerships, so it will help our members be part of joined-up, place-based approaches.

“The paper proposes giving MCAs more power and control over housing, regeneration and retrofit funding – something we’ve argued for strongly in our recent papers on brownfield redevelopment and warm homes. We found that centralised funding models were a barrier to MCAs delivering the change needed in their local communities.

“It also talks about local regeneration and a new version of the Long-Term Plan for Towns drawing on the New Deal for Communities. We look forward to working with NHC members to help shape and deliver this.”

We will share a more detailed briefing about the White Paper in the New Year, but our initial reflections are that it offers lots of opportunities for members to make a bigger difference to the communities they serve.

You can read the English Devolution White Paper here.

We have appointed a new chair, vice chair and four new board members to join our member-led board. The board will continue to support our mission to be the voice of the North and make sure everyone has access to a good quality home they can afford.

We are pleased to welcome Charlie Norman, Chief Executive of Mosscare St Vincent’s Housing Group (MSV), as the new Chair of the NHC. Charlie replaces outgoing Chair, Paul Fiddaman, Chief Executive of Karbon Homes.

Chair of Outward Housing and Newlon Housing board member, and former Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) senior civil servant Jane Everton  CBE will step up to be Vice Chair.

Rachael Dennis, Chief Executive of Incommunities; Tracy Gordon, Lead Officer for Housing Partnerships at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority; Steve Hepworth, Chief Executive of Ongo Homes; and Noel Sharpe, Group Chief Executive Officer of Bolton at Home, all take on the role of board members.

NHC Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison, welcomed the new board members, saying:

“We feel incredibly lucky to be able to appoint such an experienced and knowledgeable group of people, who bring with them many years of expertise from the housing, environmental sustainability and public sectors.

“They begin their new roles at an exciting time, as our new government continues to prioritise housing. Every board member’s expertise is valuable, as we support our member organisations to work in partnership with government to deliver real change for communities across the North. They will also play a key role in supporting our new corporate plan which will launch in spring 2025.”

She added:

“I’ve worked with Charlie for several years now and know she will bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm to the role of Chair. I’d also like to thank Paul Fiddaman for his leadership and support over the past four years.  I know we will continue to work with him closely.”

 Charlie Norman, who previously held the position of vice chair and a member of the board for five years, has worked in the housing sector for over 30 years, both across the North West of England and in Vancouver, Canada. She has a background in community and co-operative development, neighbourhood management, supported housing and regeneration, and is Chair of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers Partnership.

Charlie said:

“The NHC is a unique organisation bringing together housing associations, local authorities and combined authorities from across the North. It’s a fantastic vehicle for sharing different perspectives, collaborating and learning from each other – that feels more important than ever.

“I’m honoured to become Chair at such a crucial time, working with a fantastic board and the wonderful team at NHC. The NHC has been right to prioritise regeneration and green homes and jobs in the North, and there is an opportunity to increase our influence with the new government. Devolution in the North is growing which is driving even more partnership working and will hopefully help target investment where it’s needed most.”

 New NHC Vice Chair, Jane Everton, joined the board in 2022. She had a long career as a senior civil servant in Whitehall including leading MHCLG’s social housing division, as well as working on the private rented sector and planning. She was awarded a CBE for public service in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2015.

New board member, Rachael Dennis, has been chief executive at Incommunities since February 2021 and has more than 20 years of senior experience in housing. She has a background in strategic leadership, delivering change and business improvement, strategic finance and governance.

Tracy Gordon brings almost 30 years’ experience in the public sector, covering both environmental sustainability and housing. Tracy joined Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in 2019 and has established several new build and retrofit housing programmes, overseeing the housing element of the Net Zero Carbon plan and leading the North West Net Zero Hub.

Chief Executive of Ongo Homes, Steve Hepworth, has more than 30 years of experience in social housing and has worked at Ongo since 2007, taking on the role of Chief Executive in 2018. Whilst working for North Lincolnshire Council, he led the team responsible for consultation with tenants that resulted in the formation of North Lincolnshire Homes and the transfer of 10,000 homes from the council.

Noel Sharpe has been working in social housing in the North West at an executive level for over 20 years, working in London for 10 years before that. She has a keen interest in the relationship between health, wellbeing and good quality homes, and is also currently Vice Chair of the Greater Manchester Housing Partnership.

The new members, along with the nine existing members of the board, will play a key role in shaping our new corporate plan, which will launch in spring 2025.

Find out more about Northern Housing Consortium’s board members at www.northern-consortium.org.uk/about-northern-housing-consortium/our-board/.