Tenant activists this week warned that the government appears to be backing away from its commitment to local government housing strategies
They argue that the DTLR鈥檚 failure to issue guidance on the strategies signals a cooling of interest, despite last year鈥檚 Green paper demand that all councils should prepare them.

The decision not to issue guidance has been heavily criticised as 鈥渟ending out the signal these strategies are not important鈥�.

Tenant Participation Advisory Service chief executive Phil Morgan said: 鈥淭he difficulty with not providing guidance for something new is that it sends out a signal that it is not important and that nobody has really thought about how to do it.

鈥淭he lack of empowerment through the continued absence of this guidance is a reflection on the lack of attractiveness of social housing.鈥�

The green paper said councils should have a strategic role in housing, whether or not they own homes.

Independent tenants鈥� consultant Marianne Hood said the guidance is 鈥渦rgently needed鈥�. 鈥淢y concern is that events are overtaking us,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e need to do something local authorities can focus their attention on and involve residents in. Some local authorities, from the way they are proceeding, have decided not to prepare or implement strategies at all.鈥�

A DTLR spokeswoman told Housing Today there were no plans for guidance, and that tenant empowerment was being realised through other avenues.

Aaron Cahill, policy officer at the National Housing Federation, said that there was ample guidance in the green paper, the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal and the urban and rural white papers.

鈥淲hether specific guidance from the DTLR is really going to help people a huge amount on the ground remains to be seen,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he role for residents in assisting with the production of housing strategies is important, but there shouldn鈥檛 be a presumption that DTLR guidance on housing strategy content and process is going to make the difference that people might want.鈥�

Gwyneth Taylor, acting head of housing at the Local Government Association, said: 鈥淭he Housing Investment Programme lays out what should be included in the strategies and there is a point when you can鈥檛 keep producing any more guidance.

鈥淲hat the DTLR are looking into, which from our perspective is more important, is guidance on producing business plans for the role of housing within a broader community planning process.鈥�

Source

Housing Today