Chartered Institute of Housing urges closer relationship between housing associations and councils

A close relationship between local authorities and housing associations will be crucial to meeting housing need, a best practice research guide by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has said.

In its Building Bridges report the CIH explored tensions between the two parts of the housing sector, and urged them to jointly develop local housing affordability frameworks to identify the required mix of homes and tenures and targets for delivering these.

They should also share the costs of “a new, more dynamic system for allocations and lettings”, and collaborate more closely on tackling homelessness.

In a set of recommendations to the Government, the CIH said building homes with genuinely affordable rents for those on low incomes should become a central policy objective, with welfare reform measures aligned with housing policy so low-income households were not prevented from accessing affordable housing.

Councils should also have wider freedom to dispose of land for housing.

CIH chief executive Terrie Alafat said: “It is clear that the potential in local authorities and housing associations working together is huge and it has never been more important for these two sets of organisations to be close partners.”

While there were examples of strong collaborations “unfortunately this is not a consistent picture and we desperately need to maximise the potential in this relationship if we are going to tackle the housing crisis”, she added.

John Bibby, chief executive of the Association of Retained Council Housing - which represents councils that still directly own housing - said: “There are undoubtedly some tensions between what should be very strong partners - much of it caused by government policy.

“It is essential that we build bridges between the two sectors and ensure local authorities and the housing association sector work together if we are to provide the safe, decent and affordable housing that our communities need.”

Mark Smulian