The Henry Stewart 2006 Annual Briefing
Providing and
Funding Social Housing

Chair
David Cowans
Chief Executive
Places for People

Speakers

Bill Brisbane
Partner
Roger Tym & Partners

Greg Campbell
Director
Campbell Tickell

Michael Davies
Associate Partner
Drivers Jonas

Ian Doolittle
Partner
Trowers & Hamlins

Andy Doylend
Group Director of Development
Circle Anglia

Derek Joseph
Director
Tribal Treasury Services

Anthony Lee
Head of Housing Consulting
Atisreal

Richard Petty
Head of Affordable Housing
Drivers Jonas

Mark Seaborn
Executive Director
Pennington Consulting Ltd

Government’s objectives and policy now AND the implications for the industry including changes in central and local Government Guidance, Regulations and Practices
• Decent Homes - where the options are now and what could happen after 2010
• The future for Retention Authorities, ALMOs and Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVT) landlords
• The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) - too complex to touch?
• Tenancies - the need and prospects for reform
• Private finance - the Treasury's classification rules and their application
• Localism - ODPM, local housing authorities and ...
• Tenant empowerment - Gateway, Mutual and Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) models

Interpreting the implications of the Mayor of London’s Supplementary Guidance
• The impact of the 50% affordable housing target
• The development appraisal as a planning document
• The development economics of high density schemes
• How the boroughs are responding to the guidance
• Are housing outputs meeting housing need?

Progress Towards and Implications of the Government’s Inexpensive House Initiative
• The origins and aims of the £60,000 home initiative
• Outcomes of the competition and how the scheme will work in practice
• How will free land be provided?
• Will the new communities be sustainable?
• How does the scheme compare to traditional approaches to affordable housing?

Housing Corporation Funding Policy in the Future and its Consequences
• The threat to the grants budget from government deficits and the need to fund the Olympics
• Can partnership survive merger mania?
• The role of the mega LSVTs
• The conflict between grant and the planning process
• The continuing ability for cross-subsidy and reserves to make the grant programme viable
• Regional control versus central analysis
• Ownership dependent programmes in a time of depressed housing markets

Non-Housing Corporation Sources of Funding – Finance from Whom, for What and on What Terms
• The European dimension - tax driven or soft loans versus grant
• More subsidy from the planning system
• Equity finance for social housing
• REITs, unit trusts and all that
• Housing associations as a self-sustaining conglomerate business
• Cross-border mergers that unlock assets
• Other opportunities with government agencies

Opportunities in PFI and Prudential Borrowing
• Previous rounds - success and failure
• PFI to achieve decent homes
• PFI to provide new affordable housing
• Government policy and support
• The PFI market
• Challenges for the coming round
• Prudential Borrowing; how does it work?
• Prudential Borrowing and Decent Homes
• Prudential Borrowing and New Build

Problems, Solutions and Opportunities in the Key Worker Housing Market
• Who really is a key worker?
• What is the true demand for key worker housing?
• London: Eastern Region - affordability is the key

Latest thinking on intermediate tenure: new structures, new build, home buy
• What is intermediate housing and who is it for?
• Grant free options/opportunities - are these the answer?

Implications of Future Changes in Planning Policy and Guidance
• The key national planning policy changes - the 2004 Act; PPG 3 Housing; Consultation on Planning for Mixed Communities and Planning for Housing; Circular 05/05 Planning Obligations
• Policy at the Regional /local level - greater requirements for evidence based analysis - Delivering housing in the right place at the right time - Housing Needs Surveys and Household Balance Analysis - Is there a common approach at the local level - can agreement be reached to deliver housing across administrative boundaries? examples of local emerging policy
• Implication of new policy approach - can it deliver housing in the right places at the right time? Will the new approach be supported by the housing market? Will the change in policy cause delays and confusion?

Meeting the Challenges of Site Finding and Affordable Site Values
• Site identification - planning for longer term growth (i.e. 15 years), maintaining a 5 year supply and meeting the Government's brownfield land target - can this continue in high demand areas (SE/SW)? The potential paradox of releasing employment sites for new housing
• RSLs and developers - partners or competitors? Finding new ways of working together
• Developers' grant - impact on the established order?
• Housing Corporation partner status - land banking by RSLs; can non-partners survive?
• Defining their own market - RSLs competing against each other; internal subsidies
• Making the most of land resources - the drive for higher density
• Building mixed tenure communities
• Striving for quality - good design; blurring the differences between social and private housing; rising resident expectations
• Controlling build costs - absorbing the pressures of SDS and HQI
• Modern methods of construction - cost; are they fundable?

How the New Procurement Rules will Affect What can be Achieved
• What do the new procurement rules involve?
• What are the changes from previous arrangements?
• What difference do they make for social housing developers and providers?
• How can we avoid getting bogged down in bureaucracy?

Future Strategies for RSLs, ALMOs and Joint Ventures in their Many Forms
• The Housing Corporation development programme
• RSL mergers and acquisitions
• The future for ALMOs; future freedoms
• What’s left for stock retaining local authorities?
• The sector; working together?

Market Review: Who is Doing/Planning to do What, Where and When – Planned Growth in Southern England
• The Draft East of England Plan
• The Draft South East Plan
• The Growth Areas – Thames Gateway, Ashford, Milton Keynes and South Midlands, the Peterborough-Cambridge-Stansted-London corridor and Aylesbury
• The infrastructure requirements
• Infrastructure costs and funding

The Future for Local Authority Housing After the Option Appraisal
• Option appraisal requirements and outcomes
• The options and where next