There was a degree of “shock horror” in the Housing Association world following the Court of Appeal decision last week on London Quadrant v. Weavers.The Court found that Housing Associations were in fact Public bodies (abet “hybrid”) and subject to 1998 Human Rights Act and judicial review.
This decision should really be welcomed by everyone. It is just “stating the bleeding obvious” and does not threaten in any way decently run Housing Associations.
Face facts, the overwhelming majority of Housing Associations are wholly dependent on the public purse. They depend on housing benefit (especially direct payment), on direct development grants (more so recently), on favourable planning permission and "gain" (less so recently of course), social care funding and state regulation to ensure cheap and accessible finance.
They have also freely agreed to take over state responsibilities for public housing with regard to allocations, anti-social behaviour, supporting people, regeneration, equalities, social cohesion, training etc.
I like Lord Judge Elias comment that subsidised housing for the poorer element of society is “Almost by definition ... the antithesis of a private commercial activity”. Of course it is!
Frankly the impact on the provision of services should be minimal. Ms Weavers actually lost her case against being evicted because she had a long history of rent arrears. Housing associations that rely on Ground 8 of the Housing Act 1988 to evict tenants who are only 8 weeks in arrears are completely out of order in any case. The Courts had previously no discretion at all to refuse to evict tenants under this ground. This is a completely nasty thatcherite housing policy that has no place in modern day public housing.
There are real issues regarding governance and democratic deficit in many associations but this should not prove insurmountable. I don’t think that Housing Association loans will suddenly become public sector debt either.
Judicial reviews will remain extremely difficult to mount but they will act as an effective break to blatantly stupid housing management decisions.
In any case, well run and responsive organisation has nothing whatsoever to fear from this judgement and should instead welcome it. There has been a debate without end for decades about the nature and role of housing associations. We at long last now have a clear steer.
There are still problems but seize this moment and relish the challenge. We are public housing providers whose raison d'être surely is providing decent homes, helping to regenerate our communities while providing quality housing services. Nuf said?
3 comments:
The next few years will prove very interesting for all Social Housing. What we really need though is the Green light for the 4th option, and allow Council's to build under the Prudential Borrowing model. The waiting lists for Housing in all our major cities is a massive issue. However, my fear is that there will not be a single Council House left in Britain if the Tories get in at the next election. Even Housing Associations could find themselves in trouble once Cameron starts tampering with the funding.
Hi mrcentreleft
Yes, we need a level playing field for those Councils who want to build and most importantly a mass national housing programme.
Not only would there not be a single Council house left if the Tories win but also Housing Associations would be turned into PLC's and security of tenure would be kaput.
Well done Justices they have seen through this appeal which was only interested in the difficulties it would create for housing providers. That residents may have rights was very inconvenient to them.
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