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Delivering housing and regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing

Published 19 June 2007

New housing and regeneration body Communities England will boost housing supply across the country and help revitalise some of our most deprived towns and cities, Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will say today.

New housing and regeneration body Communities England will boost housing supply across the country and help revitalise some of our most deprived towns and cities, Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will say today.

The new body, which combines the work of English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and the delivery work of Communities and Local Government, will deliver £1bn worth of new homes, infrastructure and community facilities by 2014.

Speaking on the same day as the publication of Martin Cave's review of social housing, Ruth Kelly will call on all sectors involved in housing and regeneration to offer views on the vision and scope outlined for Communities England including the key ambition to make homes sustainable as well as affordable.

Ruth Kelly said:

"Housing supply has already increased from 130,000 a year to more than 180,000 a year since 2001. Investment in affordable housing has more than doubled in that time, with private sector investment increasing by 50 per cent over the last year to an annual total of £1bn. These are significant achievements, but we must raise our efforts if we are to reach levels of the supply needed across the country.

"The creation of Communities England presents us with a unique opportunity to build on ten years of progress and ensure that every individual and community has the opportunity to share in the country's prosperity, growth and sustainability".

English Partnerships' chair and chair of the Communities England Transition Team, Baroness Ford said:

"On behalf of the Board and management team of English Partnerships I welcome the timely publication of this very important consultation document which marks a significant step forward in the creation of Communities England.

"It is important that we capture the views of all stakeholders, particularly local authorities, and with this in mind the Transition Team has scheduled a series of thirty national stakeholder events, beginning next week, that will allow us to obtain first hand feedback on the future shape of Communities England."

Peter Dixon, Chairman of the Housing Corporation, added:

"We welcome the launch of the consultation paper on the proposed new national housing and regeneration agency Communities England and the future of social housing regulation. Housing and the creation of great places for people to live are top priorities for the country at the moment, and are at the very heart of the developing political agenda. This makes it a particularly exciting time for the Housing Corporation to build on its successful experience investing in and regulating affordable housing over the last four decades.

"We look forward to working in partnership with Communities and Local Government and key agencies to deliver even more, through developing new structures focused on the needs of people and communities in the 21st century."

Communities England will work with local councils to:

  • increase the supply of housing;
  • promote mixed communities and estate transformation;
  • increase low cost home ownership;
  • create sustainable strong and stable existing communities promoting a mix of tenure, income and housing type;
  • regenerate deprived town centres;
  • promote the reuse of brownfield and surplus public sector land; and
  • drive forward the adoption of high and rising environmental standards across the whole housing market through the Carbon Challenge's eco villages.

Notes to Editors

1. Ruth Kelly was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing annual conference in Harrogate.

2. Communities England was announced in January. Subject to legislation the aim is to have it up and running by April 2009. Further details can be found on the Communities and Local Government website here: Pioneering agency to drive forward housing and regeneration.

3. Consultation document Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing can be found here: Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the future of social housing regulation.

4. Further detail of the Cave Review can be found here: The Cave Review of Social Housing Regulation.

5. English Partnerships is the national regeneration agency, helping the Government to support high quality sustainable growth in England.

6. The Housing Corporation is the national Government agency that funds new affordable housing and regulates housing associations in England.

7. The decision to devolve the Communities and Local Government's delivery functions in the areas of Decent Homes, Housing Growth, housing PFI, Housing Market Renewal and urban regeneration to Communities England is part of building a new strategic Department. A streamlined delivery chain is vital for transforming the Department into a more strategic and policy focused organisation.

8. From April 2008, all new social housing will be built to level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, making it 25 per cent more energy efficient that existing Building Regulation standards. Housing Corporation housing is already being built to EcoHomes "very good" standard. Last December, the Government set the ambition that all new homes will be zero carbon - level 6 of the Code - by 2016. Further detail can be found here: Towards a zero carbon future.

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