星空传媒

The Local Government Association this week confirmed that it was in talks with the Council of Mortgage Lenders over establishing intermediary bodies. These would use new powers set to be made available to housing authorities in a DTLR regulatory reform order, due to be published in the summer.

The DTLR hopes to cut the red tape surrounding the provision of renewal funding for dilapidated private housing.

The LGA plans to secure better terms from lenders to repair homes in low-income areas by pooling homeowners, with the homes involved guaranteeing the lenders鈥� money.

Policy officer John Austin-Lock said: 鈥淭he proposals throw up the possibility of establishing buffer organisations between lenders and local authorities. These not-for-profit bodies would provide cheap loans and would also bring a high degree of financial expertise.鈥�

Private housing has long stood in the way of widescale housing renewal initiatives. But it is hoped these bodies could help regenerate entire estates.

鈥淭he idea is to give loans to those people who cannot access mainstream funding,鈥� said Graham Wood, general manager of ART Homes in the west Midlands 鈥� a pilot lender that the LGA hopes will provide a model for the rest of England and Wales.

Since December 2001 it has made payments to owner-occupiers of between 拢1,500 and 拢17,000.

Wood explained that the council was able to fund the project from the proceeds of the sale of its stake in Birmingham International Airport, but that ART Homes had secured an undisclosed amount of private sector funding once council funding ran out.

鈥淲ith the right support, we could become national overnight,鈥� he added.

A government announcement on intermediary bodies is expected in the summer, a source told Housing Today.

A spokesperson for the Council of Mortgage lenders said: 鈥淒iscussions with the LGA are at an early stage, but we are a long way from loans of this sort coming from our members.鈥�