Authorities to get fresh guidelines on affordable homes

ALL local authorities are to be sent a circular from the Government in the coming days outlining a new sales strategy aimed at shifting thousands of affordable homes that are not being bought because of thehousing crash.

The circular from the Department of the Environment will ask local authorities to review their current policies regarding social and affordable housing, and will be accompanied by a Sales Strategy prepared by the Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP).

City and county councils will be asked to identify and focus their efforts on properties that are most likely to sell, with alternative options to be considered for all properties, including:

nSelling them at market value on the open market.

nTemporarily transferring affordable properties to the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).

nSelling the houses to local authority tenants under the Incremental Purchase Scheme.

nOr temporarily using the affordable properties as social housing support under appropriate leasing arrangements.

The options were outlined yesterday by the assistant secretary of the Department’s Housing Division, John McCarthy, at a meeting of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on social and affordable housing.

Mr McCarthy told the committee targets for social and affordable housing set under the Towards 2016 document were “ambitious” and “we find ourselves in a very different world”.

He said there had been a 30% increase in net housing need since 2005, yet regarding affordable housing, local authorities estimate that approximately 1,800 units already on their hands “may be difficult to sell in the current market” and that there were expectations that a further 2,270 homes will come into stock this year, some of which may also be difficult to sell.

He said activity under the RAS had increased, and despite a reduction last year, approximately 7,600 social housing units were completed or acquired under various programmes last year.