New partnership to help deliver London homes

Published	7 February 2008

A new partnership to help speed up the delivery of the Capital's £3 billion house building programme was announced today by Housing Minister Caroline Flint and the London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Mayor and the Government are joining forces to establish the London HCA Board, a local sub-committee of the HCA responsible for helping to deliver affordable housing in London and the South East. London Boroughs will also be represented and fully engaged in this process.

The new Board will be responsible for meeting the Government's and the Mayor's objectives to:

deliver a significant increase in the total number of homes in a way that is environmentally sustainable;
significantly increase the number of affordable, family-sized homes; and
create communities in which people want to live by targeting and regenerating the most deprived areas of London.

The new HCA Board will ensure money from the HCA's investment programme and land from the London Development Agency is used to deliver the HCA's housing and regeneration programme for London and support the Mayor's housing strategy.

The Board will be chaired by the Mayor, Ken Livingstone, and have HCA chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake sitting as vice-chairman. Strengthening the partnership will re-enforce a coherent approach to providing new housing and renewal in London.

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said:

"It is essential we increase the amount of affordable housing in London but we need to ensure homes are built where they are most needed.

"By strengthening our relationship with the Mayor's office and giving a stronger voice to London boroughs we can ensure we create new communities and regenerate deprived areas in a much more joined-up way."

HCA chief executive Sir Bob Kerslake said:

"London will form a key part of the programme of the new Homes and Communities Agency. The key to the delivery of more high quality affordable homes in London is for the HCA to support the delivery of the Mayor's housing strategy through the establishment of a close working relationship with the Mayor's Office and every London Borough. That is what this new arrangement will secure."

Councillor Chris Roberts, leader of London Borough of Greenwich and chair of Thames Gateway London Partnership said:

"We welcome the new agency and particularly the strong appointment of Sir Bob Kerslake. It's particularly important for a borough like Greenwich and the Thames Gateway London Partnership, which is already playing and will continue to play a major role in the development of new homes and sustainable communities."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, said:

"My new housing strategy sets out clear policies to help make housing more affordable for Londoners, and especially for those struggling to find family housing. Sir Bob Kerslake and I have agreed a clear basis on which the new Homes and Communities Agency will work in London and are looking forward to working closely with boroughs, builders and local communities to help provide the homes this city needs. These new arrangements will bring the delivery of housing and regeneration far closer to London's specific needs than has ever been possible before."

Housing Corporation chief executive Steven Douglas said:

"We welcome this development at the Housing Corporation. It will build on the strong working relationship we have established with Communities and Local Government and the Mayor to develop new high quality affordable homes to meet the needs of Londoners, and ensure the new Homes and Communities Agency is well placed to even better meet the housing needs of the capital."

Notes to editors

1. The Homes and Communities Agency is a new body formed from the amalgamation of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation. This brings together the organisations responsible, respectively, for the land and the money used to deliver decent, affordable homes.

2. The Housing Corporation currently prepares an affordable housing programme for London, as part of its overall National Affordable Housing Programme, which reflects the Mayor's London Housing Strategy. A protocol between the GLA and the Housing Corporation has also been developed. This sets out the current division between responsibility for housing delivery which sits with the Housing Corporation and the strategic role of the Mayor.

3. The Government has committed £3bn to affordable housing in London for the three years to 2011.