ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Chartered Institute of Housing policy director Sarah Webb has written to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister demanding more money for the forums, which are currently bankrolled only by their members. It believes the extra funds would allow the forums to do proper research into housing need in their areas.

The calls come as the sector scrambles to appoint the regional housing boards (HT 17 April, page 7) and as the sector's three biggest trade bodies restructure themselves to reflect this change.

As revealed in last week's Housing Today, the CIH is to reorganise its policy department to ensure it can lobby the nine housing boards announced by deputy prime minister John Prescott in the Communities Plan. The National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association are also adapting to cope with the renewed focus on regionalism.

Webb said each member of her policy team had been made responsible for certain regions.

Also, members of regional branch committees will each elect a regional policy officer to liaise directly with the new boards.

Webb said: "It's as much about feeding back local concerns to us at a national level as it is about imposing national policy down to the regions.

  "Understanding the regions is very important, but the jury is still out as to whether the regional housing board will be an effective way of tackling this – the challenge is to make it work."

NHF deputy chief executive James Tickell said the organisation had been moving toward a more regional structure for some time, but was beefing up its regional presence even further.

He said: "We adapted this model because we anticipated this change of policy."

The NHF had added 10 regional staff in the past five years, he said.

The Local Government Association is understood to be in talks with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister over how local government priorities are represented on the boards. The body is not expected to change any of its core executive structures.