Housing Corporation (Hansard, 17 December 1990)

§ Sir George Young

My right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Patten), the then Secretary of State, announced on 8 November the allocation of additional resources to the Housing Corporation to enable housing associations to provide more subsidised housing, with special emphasis on meeting the needs of the homeless. Gross expenditure by the Housing Corporation is expected to exceed £2 billion in 1993–94, a 65 per cent. increase over the current year, with a target of 40,000 completions in that year.

This is a clear indication both of the Government's commitment to the housing association movement as the main providers of new subsidised homes, and of our determination to tackle the problem of homelessness.

I have today approved the Housing Corporation's proposals for the overall shape of its approved development programme for 1991–92. A further announcement will be made early in the new year about the regional allocation of resources, once I have received the corporation's detailed proposals.

The broad outline of the corporation's proposals confirms the priority that is being accorded to the problem of homelessness by the Government and their agencies. About half the total number of new homes for rent will be targeted on the homeless. The corporation's rural programme will also be maintained and increased in future years.

It is important that the large investment which the Government are making in the housing association movement should be employed efficiently. The programme shows a further increase in the proportion of schemes for rent funded jointly with the private sector, providing greater leverage of resources for the public sector input. The corporation is also committed to achieving efficiency gains of at least 5 per cent. over three years through, among other things, greater attention to cost competition in the selection of bids.

The introduction of the new grant regime under the Housing Act 1988 has been a major task. The corporation's early problems in programming its expenditure are now being resolved, and I am confident that it is able to respond positively to the enhanced role it now has in implementing the Government's housing policy.

The breakdown of the approved development programme—ADP—for 1991–92 and provisional plans for the following two years is as follows:

£ million
	1991–92 ADP	1992–93 Plans	1993–94 Plans
Housing for rent¹	1,385	1,512	1,714
Major repairs and other works	53	71	84
Mini-HAG	7	8	9
Tenants incentive scheme	32	34	36
Low cost home ownership²	105	110	159
Other expenditure³	6	3	3
Total gross expenditure	1,588	1,738	2,005
Receipts	-93	-97	-103
Total net expenditure	1,495	1,641	1,902

25W

Notes:

¹ Includes public expenditure on mixed funded for rent schemes and 100 per cent. publicity funded rented schemes.

² Includes shared ownership and rehabilitation for sale.

³ Includes right to buy mortgages and self build.

Programme targets for 1991–92 are as follows:

	Approvals (units)
General needs—rent	26,500
Special needs—rent	3,000
Rural housing (rent and sale)	1,500
Low-cost home ownership (non rural)
New build	2,700
Rehabilitation (including outright sale)	1,000
Tenants incentive scheme	2,500
Mini-HAG	1,800
Total	39,000