Co-operatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

benefit reform markets & risk Value for Money make use of assets Mexfield

Opportunities for our sector?

Co-operatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Community-led Housing Anthony Brand 14 th July 2012

Introduction  HCA role and remit  State of the nation – views from the HCA  HCA and the community-led sector  Opportunities and challenges

“ the people who help get things done…”  Working with people and places to enable them to deliver homes, economic growth and jobs  Delivering programmes of investment  Making best use of our land and that of government/ other public bodies  Since April 2012 the HCA has been the regulator of social housing providers HCA Purpose: to contribute to economic growth by helping communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity and to deliver quality housing that people can afford HCA role

Our programmes  Affordable Homes Programme – Meeting locally identified needs – £4.5bn (£2.3bn existing commitments) – c10,000 FirstBuy – Empty Homes; Traveller sites  Decent Homes – £2.1bn investment – Managing approval process for PFI projects in procurement  Land and Assets - – HCA Land: accelerated disposal; buy now pay later – Property and Regeneration: existing commitments; land remediation and infrastructure provision – Economic Assets: inherited from RDAs; local stewardship – Public Land: working with Government departments

Our regulation role  HCA Independent Regulation Committee  New Regulatory Framework applies to all  Focus on governance, financial viability and value for money  Co-regulation – Board responsible for delivery, accountable to tenants  Reduced burden and proportionate to risk – Limited information requirements from CoOps  Intervention and enforcement powers – Only intervene in consumer cases of serious detriment “We will be robust and transparent in our regulation, maintaining lender confidence and protecting taxpayers”

what is the HCA’s overall vision for housing – both as the facilitator of new housing developments and as the new social housing regulator?

 Housebuilding on the increase but not building enough since 1940s – The big developers cannot do enough to plug the gap on their own – Banks are not lending enough – mortgages, development finance, loans  Affordability issues remain – First step on the ladder seems further than ever – Shift from home ownership toward private rental – Increase in rents plus welfare reform  Local councils and communities seeking their own solutions – Every place is different – localised, bottom up solutions needed – People want to be part of the solution, not have housing ‘done to them’ – New products emerging – both public and private – Cooperative and community-led models getting more exposure State of the nation

 Stimulating the market to deliver – Releasing public land – Putting money into the system – Firstbuy home ownership – Newbuy mortgage indemnity – Get Britain Building (loans to developers) – Self build loan fund – Right to Buy (one for one replacement)  Promoting localism and bottom-up solutions – Housing reform, finance reform, planning reform – New community rights to deliver local solutions  Regulatory reform and reduced red tape – Streamlined, proportionate, risk based – Emphasis on self and co-regulation Recent Government action

 Less public money – be smarter and more innovative – Lighter touch from Government and more sector-led ideas – Public sector role is to facilitate and open doors – Making assets and ideas go further  New entrants – private and no-for-profit or community-led – New private landlords have registered – Learning from Europe and further afield (eg self build) – Community-led providers –coops, CLTs, co-housing, CoCo model, TMOs – Cooperatives/Community-led can be part of the solution ! – Contribute to delivery of better quality, better managed homes – Offer something different to the public Looking ahead

What is the HCA doing to enable community-led housing organisations to produce more new homes?

 Investment aligned with local priorities  The right mix of: – Private finance – Public land – Public investment – Enabling support and tools – Other funding and partnerships Delivery of local priorities Enabling support and tools Regeneration and Affordable housing Land Aligning public funding “We are locally driven. We work with councils, LEPs and other local partners, effectively targeting our investment and support at their identified priorities.” Delivering local aspirations

 Learning from experiences with a dozen community-led schemes, and fifty more we are in discussions with  Engaging with the sector, including getting feedback on how the previous system worked (or didn’t)  Building awareness and support among HCA staff and the sector – community-led champions, training sessions, liaising with DCLG  Making it easier to work with us – Building a common understanding – Reducing the bureaucracy – Joining up regulation and investment – Providing some enabling support (recognising our limitations) – Helping the sector raise capacity and finance – Opening doors Working with the sector

 Join existing consortium at any time – £1.8bn allocated to deliver 80,000 new homes with 146 providers – Match your scheme to the programme allocations  Going it alone – AHP fully allocated but some available for ‘community-led’ schemes which meet key criteria: – Standard HCA criteria - deliverability, VFM, quality – HCA products (Affordable Rent/Shared Ownership/Shared Equity) – Meets local priorities (agreed with local authority) – Community benefit - Structure / governance / control – Making land available to self build and community-led Providing (limited) funding

Community Right to Build The new way for communities (rural and urban) to develop local areas without going through planning Apply to develop homes, infrastructure or anything else Must get 50%+ of vote at local referendum £17.5m support fund managed by the HCA to help groups put together their plans Locality is supporting groups on the ground to deliver

what do you think the community-led housing sectors need to do to offer alternative approaches to meet national housing needs?

 Momentum is building – be ambitious – Show it can be done - build on local successes – Continue to demand recognition for what you offer – Push for more – from yourselves and from us  Government is supportive – take advantage – Big Society and Localism: Community Rights – Public programmes being flexed to work for communities – Enabling support is available and networks are in place  You have the tools - assets, enthusiasm and drive – Drive and desire to support local places and people – Bottom-up = community support – Billions of £ of coop land/buildings/rent could be used to support development of new coop homes and communities Grasping opportunities

 Awareness / Appetite – sector not well understood – How do you encourage existing coops to develop more homes? – How do you increase public demand for cooperative housing? – Can you work more closely with local authorities (coop councils)?  Sustainability and governance – demonstrate that these are well run and have capacity to manage complex developments – Do all coops have the skills and governance to mange schemes? – BEWARE: it takes one bad news story to reinforce negative perceptions  Development is a difficult and risky business – You can’t rely on there being public money – Private finance is hard to access, but deals can be done – Needs different skills and a commercial mindset, without losing mission  Coordination – a movement or series of individual local solutions? – How do you act as a ‘movement’ and what will you commit on its behalf – assets, land, money, skills? – c£2bn of homes in control of cooperatives around the UK – borrowing against these could help raise funding for over 60,000 new homes The challenges

What next?  Speak to your tenants – are there opportunities? – Do you have land, assets or funding that you can use? – Can you work with other coops to do something together? – Or to the local authority?  Guidance and best practice is available – Networks like CCH - speak to Nic/Blase for information  Have a look at the HCA web page – Groups already approaching HCA teams – We can signpost to networks and support if appropriate

Be part of the solution……….

Co-operatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon