Clause 35
Housing and Regeneration Bill
9:00 am
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
It is in the scope of the agency’s powers to act as a landlord, but I had an earlier debate with the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire about this matter. The anticipated main focus of the agency’s activities would be to assist work in partnership with others—registered providers, councils, or whatever—in that respect, rather than actually being a direct landlord itself. But the scope and flexibility is there for the agency to do that.
The Homes and Communities Agency can dispose of housing or land to a person, provide infrastructure to a person—which we debated in clause 7—or give financial assistance to a person, on condition that the person “provides low-cost rental accommodation”. Where the agency does this, it must ensure that, where the accommodation is made available for rent, the landlord is a relevant provider—as defined in subsection (9).
Amendment No. 110 defines and clarifies the phrase “provides low-cost rental accommodation”, for the purposes of this clause. It means to construct, acquire or convert accommodation for use as low-cost rental accommodation, or ensure such acquisition, conversion or construction by another. Amendment No. 110 will effectively define “provides low-cost rental accommodation” when this is not done directly by the HCA. We thought it important to clarify what is meant when someone other than the HCA is commissioned to provide the accommodation. This is especially the case where the term “provider” bears a different meaning in part 2.
Clause 35 requires the Homes and Communities Agency to ensure that the landlord of low-cost rental accommodation provided as a result of its activities is a relevant provider as defined in subsection (9). Amendment No. 111 amends the definition of ‘relevant provider’ to include arm’s length management organisations or other entities controlled by a local authority, as well as a local authority or a registered provider. At present, ALMOs have managed only housing owned by the local authority. ALMOs—I have spoken to them and think that they are an exciting model—are increasingly interested in owning stock themselves. The agency could provide financial assistance, infrastructure or land to an ALMO for it to provide low-cost rental accommodation. This amendment would allow the ALMO to be the owner when the agency-funded accommodation is made available for rent.
The other amendments in this group are not strictly speaking related to this clause. Government amendments Nos. 112 to 114 relate to clause 36, which gives the Homes and Communities Agency powers to require the repayment or recycling of social housing assistance. These powers broadly re-enact the Housing Corporation’s powers in relation to recovery and recycling of social housing grant. As the agency has a general financial assistance power rather than specific grant powers limited to social housing, we need to define when the grant-recovery and recycling powers are available to the agency. We do not want these powers to be available in relation to financial assistance given by the agency for other purposes. For financial assistance given for purposes not related to social housing, we think that ordinary grant conditions suffice. However, the flexibility given by clause 36 is needed for social housing assistance.
Clause 36(8) defines social housing assistance as
“financial assistance given under section 22 on condition that the recipient provides social housing (whether by itself or as part of a wider project).”
Government amendment No. 112 defines “provides social housing”. The definition of “provides” is wider in this clause than in clause 35 because we think it appropriate for the agency to have the grant-recovery and recycling powers for grants given for a wider range of activities, including improving or maintaining social housing.