HCA Corporate Plan

8/14/2019 HCA Corporate Plan

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Thriving communities,affordable homes

Corporate Plan 2009/102010/11

OURVISIONREAL

ACTIONS

The Homes and CommuntiesAgency: Vision into ActionThe strategic contextThe market context

Delivering in 200911Developing our waysof working 200914Organisational structureand developmentStrategic risks andmitigation strategies


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CONTENTS


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1 Foreword 22 Executive summary 43 The policy and market context 10

.1 Public policy background 11

. The market context and outlook 1

. The Governments response 14 Our vision, goals, values and principles o intervention 16

.1 Our vision 1

. Our goals 1

. Our values 1

. Our principles o intervention 1

5 Strategy 19.1 Maintaining programme momentum . What we are going to do di erently . Increasing housing supply . Embedding the place based model o working

6 Shaping the uture 46.1 Our commitment to sustainability and good design . Quality o place . Tackling the problem o empty homes . The role o the consumer . Shaping uture housing tenures: responding to housing need and aspirations

7 Cross-cutting themes 55

.1 Intermediate housing choices . Delivering integrated regeneration

. Capacity and skills in the housing and regeneration sector

. Rural housing and communities

. Creating opportunities or people, places and communities

. Vulnerable and older people 1

. Equality and diversity 18 Creating an integrated organisation 639 Per ormance measures and targets 66

.1 Integrated Per ormance Framework

. Per ormance targets 10 Strategic risks and mitigation 70

Annex 1: The Homes and Communities Agencys programmes Annex : Regional spatial priorities and delivery Annex : The Single Conversation initial roll out areas 1 Annex : The Homes and Communities Agencys working structure 11Annex : Compulsory purchase 11Annex : Central local agreement on housing and regeneration (June ) 11

Homes and Communities Agency

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Homes and CHomes and Communities Agencommunities Agencyy

Foreword

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) wasormed, our months early, in December . We

began operating in the midst o a severe economicdownturn. This brings considerable challenges or usi we are to live up to the governments ambitions,but equally there are many opportunities or us inthe months and years ahead.

This Corporate Plan covers the two year period up

to the end o March 11, which marks the end othe governments current Spending Review period.It builds on the Interim Corporate Plan we publishedlast December, on eedback we have received

rom the consultations we held with our stakeholdersand on the governments commitment to respondto the economic downturn through BuildingBritains Future.

In the Plan we outline our priorities as thegovernments housing and regeneration agency

or England, and our spending plans, as we seek

both to stimulate housing supply and meet demand.

During our rst 1 months o operation we haveconcentrated on maintaining delivery across thevaried programmes o our predecessor bodies andhave moved quickly to respond to worsening marketconditions. We have, or example: Invested 350m in buying 9,600 unsold homes

rom developers additional a ordable homeso the right type, and in the right place;

Allocated more than 300m to HomeBuy Direct to support rst time buyers;

Helped those who are already homeowners,

but may be in danger o repossession, with thegovernments mortgage rescue scheme;

Injected 93m into stalled housing schemes in London; and

Signed contracts with Barratt to create Englandsrst large scale Code or Sustainable Homes Level development near Bristol.

The vision we set ourselves at the creation o theHCA is now being realised to create opportunity

or people to live in homes they can a ord and inplaces they want to live; and to help local authorities

and local communities deliver the ambition they haveor their areas.

Over the course of the next two years, over 13bn will be invested under our programmes, including themoney that was channelled towards the HCA in the

Budget and as part o the Building BritainsFuture Housing Pledge. We are delighted that thegovernment has entrusted these resources to theHCA as a means o ensuring the quick delivery omore high quality homes. Our target in this periodis to build more than 1 , new homes, theoverwhelming majority of which will be affordable.

We will seek to improve housing supply, particularly

where housing growth is needed and to renewexisting stock where it is not. We will continue ourprogramme to bring thousands o homes up to adecent standard, urther retro tting them to achievehigher levels o environmental sustainability, and wewill continue to provide targeted support or thevulnerable and disadvantaged.

We will tap into the nancial power o the privatesector through PFIand joint ventures, and byattracting new sources o investment. We willcontinue to buy, sell, clean up and manage land.

Our aim is to be an agency that is at the ore ront obest practice in environmental and quality standardsby maintaining high standards or quality in urbandesign, environmental excellence and housingdelivery that achieve value or money.

Most importantly, we will continue to work fexiblywith our partners housing associations, privatesector developers, local authorities and otherdelivery agencies tailoring packages o supportthrough the Single Conversations we are now havingwith local authorities.

This Plan establishes a rm basis or the delivery oour programme in /1 and 1 /11, explaininghow we will maintain delivery across the sharp shi tsin both the market and the resources available tous over this period. We will do this by increasingthe equity component o our spending so thatwe generate receipts when the market improves,exercising greater fexibility over the pro ling o ourexpenditure and outputs, leveraging other sourceso unding and increasing the use o our own land.These new approaches were not available priorto the creation o the HCA. They, together with

the Kickstart package arising rom the Budgetand rom Building Britains Future, exempli ythe added value o the Agency.

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. Foreword Homes and CHomes and Communities Agencommunities Agencyy

This Plan makes the case or greater fexibility toreduce the number o separate programmes that weoperate. This would mean we would be better able tounderpin housing growth and to support high qualityregeneration and place making across England.Once we have achieved this we will be able to unlockthe ull potential o the HCA. The creation o thisfexibility, which was a central part o the originalvision o the HCA, is a challenge aced both by us andour sponsor Department. It is one we share and onethat we are con dent will be met.

Robert Napier Sir Bob KerslakeChairman Chie Executive

September

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2EXECUTIVESUMMARY

Our Vision, Real actions4


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. Executive summary Homes and CHomes and Communities Agencommunities Agencyy

The Homes and Communities Agency was created bythe Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 to: Improve the supply and quality of housing in

England; Secure the regeneration or development of land

or in rastructure in England; Support in other ways the creation, regeneration

or development o communities in England ortheir continued well being; and

Contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and good design in England, witha view to meeting the needs o people living

in England.

The HCA brought together the unctions othe ormer English Partnerships, the Academy

or Sustainable Communities, the investmentunction o the Housing Corporation and key

housing and regeneration programmes deliveredby Communities and Local Government (CLG) withina single organisation.

However, the HCA is greater than the sum o its parts,with substantially broader goals and an aspirational

vision that refects the rationale behind its creation: For people, a home they can afford and a place they want to live in; and

For places, ful llingneeds, aspirations and ambitions.

Our goals are: To accelerate the delivery of housing growth ; To secure the delivery of new a ordable

housing and ensure existing social rentedstock is made decent;

To accelerate the regeneration o underper orming areas and the renewal o deterioratingestates; and

To ensure high standards of design and to embed sustainability , with a legacy o skills, knowledgeand capacity.

Since the idea o the Homes and CommunitiesAgency was conceived, the economic landscape haschanged considerably. O particular signi cance or usare the di culties that private sector housebuildershave experienced, which have led to ewer newhomes being built and the stalling o a numberof housing and regeneration projects.

Nevertheless the underlying pent up demand ornew homes remains undiminished, as does the need

or the regeneration o run down areas in town andcity centres. We there ore have a unique opportunityto use ully the broad spectrum o resources at ourdisposal to secure an increase in the supply o newhousing, especially a ordable housing, and to helpenable important development and regenerationprojects to continue.

We remain committed to realising our goals and toachieve these we have de ned our key strategic

objectives. The implementation of these strategicobjectives is supported by our Change Plan. Thisprovides the route map or the HCA to become anintegrated, fexible and highly e ective organisationthat conducts its business in a new way through theSingle Conversation.

Strategic objectivesIn order to be success ul as an Agency we need tohave a number o key priorities which are:1. To maintain the programme momentum in the

delivery o a ordable housing and sustainable

regeneration.. To increase housing supply, responding activelyand innovatively to the market and laying the

oundations or the uture.. To implement and embed a place ocused model

o working.. To create a single, integrated and responsive

organisation that operates e ciently and providesgood value or money.

Maintaining programme momentumSince our creation in December , thegovernment has provided additional resources toincrease the size o some o the key programmeswe inherited rom our predecessor organisations andintroduced new programmes as part o its aim torespond to the economic downturn and to stress therole that new housing plays in its aim o deliveringthe security and support people want or their amilies.

We shall be actively pursuing the Housing FiscalStimulus Package announced in the Budget principally through the Housing Kickstart Programmeand delivering the increased numbers o new homesthat are an integral part o Building Britains Future.

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HOUSING COMPLETION TARGET SUMMARY 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2009-11Outturn Target Target Total

A ordable: Social Rent 27,501 2 , , 2 , 2

A ordable: Low Cost Home Ownership 19,775 2 , 1 , 2,

Open market: Housing Kickstart (Budget 2 ) , ,

Open market: Property and Regeneration 6,261 ,12 ,1 ,22

TOTAL 53,537 55,625 61,500 117,125

Open market: Housing Kickstart(Housing Pledge)

A urther , open market houses to becompleted by the end o 2 11/12; many o thesewill actually be completed by the end o 2 1 /11.

Details o these and other targets are described more ully in section .1.


We will continue to deliver our existing programmes principally the National A ordable HousingProgramme (NAHP) inherited rom the HousingCorporation and the Property and Regeneration(P&R) Programme inherited rom the ormer EnglishPartnerships along with programmes trans erred

rom CLG, such as Growth Areas, Decent Homes,Thames Gateway, Housing Market Renewal,Places o Change and Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant.Through the HCA Academy and ATLAS (AdvisoryTeam or Large Applications) we will help developthe skills and capacity required among developers,

local authorities and other partners.

This means that overall we will be responsible orthe investment of over 13bn by March 2011 about 7bn in this nancial year but reducing to 6bn in 1 /11. This includes both those programmes

or which we have ull nancial and deliveryresponsibility and those which we deliver butwhose resources remain with the government.

The National A ordable Housing Programme accountsor over hal the total investment programme or

which we have responsibility. The Property andRegeneration budget has in the past relied heavilyon disposal proceeds in addition to the unding romthe government. Given the sharp all in such receipts,together with the reduced programme budget in

1 /11, this will be constrained during the CorporatePlan period principally to existing commitments.

We are aiming to achieve over 117,000 new homesbuilt as a result o our investments during this

Corporate Plan period; with the beneft o the openmarket homes fnanced by the second round o theHousing Kickstart Programme, the total should cometo well over 120,000.

We continue to work on a more comprehensive ra to output measures and targets that will build on thesimple output targets o the inherited programmesand will re ect more fully our policy objectives and priorities.

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Many o the trans erred programme unding streamsare distributed ollowing periodic bidding rounds withlocal authorities and other providers. The resourcesare used to deliver long term aspirations and targetsincluding: Providing resources to local authorities to develop

the in rastructure essential or housing growth; The renewal of housing in Housing Market

Renewal Path nder areas; and Achieving the standards for decent homes.

Resources or the Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant

Programme come under the control o the HCAor the rst time in /1 .

At the outset, all our programmes will continue tobe managed on a stand alone basis. However, weare working with government to achieve greaterfexibilities which will help us to utilise and targetour resources more e ectively and deliver betteroutcomes or communities and places.

Our regions will continue to deliver the NAHP and theProperty and Regeneration Programmes, and

will lead on the new Single Conversation in theirareas. Whilst initially their delivery priorities will becharacterised by inherited commitments, there willbe greater scope over time to reshape these prioritiesin order to refect local needs better. As a rst stage,the regions have identi ed their delivery priorities or

/11.

An essential part o our inheritance is more than, ha o land. We will be looking at how we

can use this more effectively to deliver our objectives, in conjunction with other surplus public sector land, ensuring we achieve good value or moneyand return on the governments investment.

Underlying our work on all our current programmesis the need to: Ensure the highest standards of design, quality

and sustainability; Tackle the impact of new development on climate

change; and Secure improved and more cost effective

standards as regards lower carbon developments.

We will be a leader on climate change issues

(mitigation and adaptation) and will introduceassociated success measures. We are alreadydelivering homes at Code Level which are %more energy e cient than other new stock.

Increasing housing supplyWe ace a number o challenges presented by thecurrent state o the housing market and the widereconomy. The requirement or increased housinggrant, as the numbers o new a ordable housingdelivered under Section 1 agreements all, andgetting major mixed use regeneration schemes off the ground, are two examples. Nevertheless thereare opportunities or us to underpin housing supplyduring the downturn and to prepare or the upturn,including measures to: Challenge and support local partners in

reassessing calls on development gain and inconsidering other possible responses throughthe planning system;

Explore with partners particularly through the Single Conversation what alternative routeswould deliver desired outcomes without requiringso much direct public investment. These mightinclude using the planning system or reassessingthe role o development gain;

Encourage greater private investment in, in particular the unding o new homes or private rent;

Fund infrastructure

works,

including

low-carbon

heat and power plants;

Make new public investment in housing and regeneration, but with higher environmental standards than be ore;

Lead the work in creating new development models; and

Help develop apprenticeships and support local jobs.

We have already indicated to partners our willingnessto provide tailored packages and be fexible on grantrates. We have also allocated resources to HomeBuyDirect and introduced the Mortgage Rescue Scheme.

There are a number o other areas where we cando more. These include: Working with housebuilders and/or local

authorities to identi y and develop mothballedsites; and

Encouraging investment in new council housing.



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Embedding a place- ocused modelo workingThe key component o this will be the introduction,on a phased basis, o the Single Conversation withlocal authorities, either individually or in appropriategroupings. Through this new business process we willbe able, amongst other things, to: Better identify the needs and requirements of

individual places and agree these with local partners; Ensure investment in different initiatives is

co ordinated and aligned; Tailor our investment to meet the real needs

o a place; and Work collaboratively with all relevant local

stakeholders and ensure consistency with localand regional plans.

There will always be limited public resources; thechallenge there ore will be to work with all ourpartners to ensure that priorities are rigorouslyexamined and that resources rom the private sectorare maximised.

Creating an integrated organisation

To enable us to deliver success ully our place ocused model o working, we need to create a single, integrated and e cient organisation thatis t or purpose.

The HCA must have uni ed culture and values, which also refect the priorities or change as set out in theChange Plan. This process is already underway with the development o governance structures that

acilitate fexible and responsive ways o workingwhilst at the same time providing the appropriatechecks and balances.

We recognise the importance o e ective programme/project assurance, management andreporting. This is why we are creating a singleper ormance ramework that will enable us to betteridenti y our successes and improve the managementand reporting o our per ormance. It will provide arobust evidence base to demonstrate our addedvalue as an agency, highlighting achievements indelivering better outcomes or people and the placesin which they live, as refected in our vision.

We are a national agency that works locally andthis will be refected in our delivery ocusedregional presences.

Shaping the utureThere are a number o areas o undamental utureimportance or us where we can either infuenceevents or must respond to changing externalconditions. Section describes some o these.

Over the next two years and beyond, we willcontinue to develop mature relationships with the

government and other key national, regional andlocal stakeholders, including the Tenant ServicesAuthority (TSA), Regional Development Agenciesand local authorities.

Our commitment to the green agenda is refected inour commitment to sustainability and good design.Our work covers a broad range o activities thatincludes ensuring that sustainability is built into new developments, through the underlyingin rastructure, through the design o the constructionprocess and by improving the energy e ciency

o new and existing housing stock. Maintaining ourquality standards is o similar importance whilstensuring that we achieve an appropriate balancebetween the long term costs and bene ts.

One o our aims is to promote the importance oplace making and the concept o the quality oplace. This will be undertaken through the SingleConversation and is key to embedding the placebased model o working.

Without meeting peoples demands and needs,e orts to build a sustainable community are unlikelyto succeed. We aim to understand what existing and

uture residents aspire to and ensure that this is atthe heart o our business.

Recognising peoples varying and evolving housingneeds over time is part and parcel o this. Ensuringthat decent housing is available on the right terms,in the right places, in the right numbers and at theright times will be a key contributor to success.

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Cross-cutting themesIn addition to the work relating to our strategicobjectives, there are a number of essential policies, themes and approaches which are intended to cutacross to all our programmes and activities.

We place particular emphasis on: Intermediate housing choices; Delivering integrated regeneration; Capacity and skills in housing and regeneration; Rural housing and communities; Creating opportunities for people, places

and communities; Vulnerable and older people; and Equality and diversity.

Risk strategiesThere are risks in everything we do and these areexacerbated by the current market conditions. It isall the more important, there ore, that we identi ythese and consider them in the context o di erencourses that the economy might take over the nex1 1 months and set appropriate strategies ortheir mitigation.

tt



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3THE POLICYAND MARKETCONTEXT

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3. The policy and market context Homes and CHomes and Communities Agencommunities Agencyy

.1 Public policy background

The creation o the HCA takes up the deliverychallenge or housing and regeneration.

HousingThe governments policy ramework or the housingsupply agenda is set out in the Housing GreenPaper: Homes or the Future: more a ordable, more

sustainable . The document committed thegovernment and its partners to an agenda with

ambitious targets. These included: 240,000 net additional homes a year by 2016,

including at least , new social homes andover , shared ownership and shared equityhomes each year by 1 /11;

2 million new homes by 2016 and 3 million by ; and

200,000 homes to be delivered on surplus public sector sites by 1 .

It also set the target o all new homes to be built tozero carbon standards rom 1 and introduced

mandatory ratings against the Code or SustainableHomes and new standards or water e ciency.

Homes or the Future was also clear that morehomes must be well designed and greener as well,linked to good schools, transport and healthcare.Recognising, in particular, the contribution o housingto carbon emissions, the government has an objective

or all new homes to be zero carbon rom 1 , witha progressive tightening o the energy e ciencystandards in the building regulations: by % in 1and by % in 1 .

The government recently published its consultationon the de nition o zero carbon which seeks viewson how the zero carbon standard might be achieved.

Policy development has recognised too the needs orural communities; in particular through the evidenceand recommendations o the A ordable RuralHousing Commission ( ) and the Taylor Reviewinto the rural economy and housing ( ).

RegenerationIn May , the government set out a new

regeneration ramework: Trans orming Places:Changing Lives. This provides an overarching strategiccontext or regeneration activity those interventionsthat aim to reverse economic, physical and socialdecline in an area, where the market will not do this

unaided, and to improve the lives o peopleliving there.

It has a stronger ocus on economic issues, such asworklessness, which continue to hold back the mostdeprived areas in England. The aim is to improve theeconomic competitiveness and per ormance o eacharea by building on their strengths and addressingtheir weaknesses.

The ramework also signals a shi t in emphasis romoutput to outcome targets allowing agencies at

di erent tiers the fexibility to meet local needs.The ramework seeks to ensure regeneration is: More tightly focused on economic outcomes

and worklessness; Driven at the right spatial level and as close

to communities as practicable making the mosto opportunities that already exist; and

Targeted not trying to transform everywhere but investing where: It will have most impact by supporting

those communities; The most severe poverty and worklessness

persists; and There is the opportunity to deliver long term change.

As the ramework document itsel says: Regeneration activity will in part be driven by

the availability o sites; the scope or attractingprivate investment; and initiatives produced bycommunities themselves, such as asset trans er.But this must be part o a wider strategy(the ramework) outlines a strategic approachto identi ying priority locations to give partnerslong-term confdence and ensure investmentis targeted in a way that benefts deprivedcommunities. These locations should bedetermined by local and regional partners,based both on the extent o deprivation andthe opportunity to deliver long-term change.

A new approach is considered particularly timelybecause o the changing way in which regenerationis planned, delivered and managed. The publicationo the Sub National Review ndings in July con rmed a move away rom large one o initiativesand programmes towards new powers and incentives

or local authorities to drive local prosperity,economic growth and regeneration, and tackle socialdeprivation and inequality. It set out how thegovernment and its agencies can best build on stepsalready taken to devolve powers and resources



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to the most appropriate levels. The new LocalPer ormance Framework has a clear ocus onregeneration the new local economic assessmentduty will allow all upper tier and unitary authoritiesto assess the economic conditions in their area andin orm local approaches to regeneration withgreater fexibility to deliver against outcomes. Strongsub regional partnerships are emerging, throughMultiple Area Agreements (MAAs) and the pilotcity regions in Manchester and Leeds.

Skills

The demand or skills arising rom the housing,regeneration and growth agendas means that peoplewith the right skills, knowledge, behaviours andleadership capability to deliver homes andcommunities are in high demand.

However, changed market conditions have had amajor impact on people with the necessary skills. Only a ew years ago we had a situation o high levelso skills and labour shortages in key pro essions. Nowthe priorities are to ensure that delivery partnershave the up to date and fexible skills that will

enable them to provide innovative approaches tomaintaining delivery momentum on projects andprogrammes that may have stalled. Di erent wayso working are required in both the public andprivate sectors and it is vital that knowledge andexperience are captured and shared e ectively.

It is clear that the uture will be di erent rom thepast. Local authorities will have a greater role inplace shaping and economic development, as

oreshadowed in the Sub National Review. Thisrole is rein orced by the new Comprehensive AreaAssessments and the National ImprovementStrategy. On top o this, emerging government policypriorities such as the increasing emphasis oncommunity cohesion, the empowerment agendaand making homes and buildings zero carbon place additional demands on the skills, capacityand knowledge o those involved in place making.

More than ever, generic skills are essential todelivering in a complex multi disciplinary teamapproach. How the sector does business has changed

new skills and knowledge are needed now toacilitate the delivery o housing and regeneration

programmes in the current, more challengingenvironment. We need to address the gaps indelivery skills, ocus on how to retain thecurrent work orce, identi y what skill sets willbe necessary when the upturn comes and build,

or re build, the skills and work orce to meet theuture demand.

Good design and sustainable developmentThe role o design in creating places that contributeto economic vitality, health and well being and tosustainable orms o development across a rangeo built environment sectors is rmly entrenchedin government policy.

The agenda is set out in several Policy PlanningStatements (PPS). For example, PPS1, Delivering

Sustainable Development , states that good designis indivisible rom good planning. This Statementclari es the obligation or local authorities to promotegood design through the planning system: High-quality and inclusive design should be the aim o allthose involved in the development process.

More recently, in May , the government publishedits strategy or improving the quality o place: World class places . The strategy lays out why and how qualityo place matters and the practical steps the governmentwill be taking to build on the achievements o recent

years and do more to create prosperous, attractive,distinctive, inclusive and sustainable world class places.The HCAs Design or Manu acture competition andsome developments with which the HCA is involvedare used by way o illustration.

The overall e ect o good planning and designacross the components o the built environment isencapsulated in the idea o place making. The localgovernment White Paper, the Green Paper Strongand Prosperous Communities, (2006) and Homes or the Future (2007) stress the role o place making asa key driver or economic prosperity, and enhancelocal authorities responsibilities as place shapers.

In an increasingly ageing society, there is also a newaspiration or homes to be accessible and easilyadaptable. The governments strategy, Li etimeHomes, Li etime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy or Housing in an Ageing Society (2008)sets a new aspiration o all new homes by 1 tobe built to Li etime Home standards (e.g. wider doors,level access, more convenient sockets). This willapply to all public sector housing by 11.

The Climate Change supplement to PPS1 makesan explicit connection between the design anddevelopment agenda and meeting the governmentsaspirations on energy per ormance and climatechange mitigation and adaptation.



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3. The policy and market context Homes and Communities Agency

It sets the role o steadily increasing sustainabilitystandards, particularly the Code or SustainableHomes, within the ramework o a design ledapproach to sustainable development and planningand enabling new development to secure the highestviable standards o resource, energy e ciency andcarbon emissions.

The Climate Change Act requires an %reduction in CO by and sets up a systemo carbon budgets or the UK. As part o theimplementation o the Act, the government is

consulting on a Heat and Energy Saving (HES)Strategy, which sets out proposals on improvingenergy e ciency and promoting low carbon heating

or homes and commercial buildings.

The Strategy outlines a possible trajectory for implementing energy e ciency measures: anobjective for all homes to have received by 2030 a whole house package o cost e ective heat andenergy saving measures, plus renewable heat andelectricity measures as appropriate, with all lo t andcavity walls to be insulated, where practicable, by 1 .

In July , in a Parliamentary statement, thegovernment con rmed tougher standards or all newhomes to be zero carbon rom 1 and a review othe climate change planning policy statement, toensure that it refects the governments climatechange ambitions and provides a clear and up to dateroute map to carbon reductions by and beyond.

The governments aim or the proper care o publiclyowned historic assets was set out in in Protocol

or the Care o the government Historic Estate whichlays down standards or managing all aspects oheritage assets rom designation to their disposal.

Public Service AgreementsThe governments priority outcomes rom thelast Spending Review are set out in Public ServiceAgreements (PSAs). At Departmental level, thePSAs are broken down urther into DepartmentalStrategic Objectives (DSOs) and associated per ormance indicators.

Our goals o growth, a ordability, renewal andsustainability (which are described in Section . )contribute speci cally to: PSA16: Increase the proportion of socially

excluded adults in settled accommodationand employment, education or training;

PSA20: Increase long-term housing supply and a ordability;

PSA21: Build more cohesive, empowered and active communities;

PSA22: Deliver a successful Olympic Games and Paralympic Games with a sustainable legacy and

get more children and young people taking part inhigh quality PE and sport;

PSA27: Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change;

DSO2: To improve the supply, environmental per ormance and quality o housing that is moreresponsive to the needs o individuals,communities and the economy;

DSO3: To build prosperous communities by improving the economic per ormance o cities,sub regions and local areas, promotingregeneration and tackling deprivation; and

DSO5: To

provide

a

more

ef cient

and

effective

planning system that supports and acilitatessustainable development, including an indicatorthat measures quality o place.

.2 The market contextand outlook

The HCA only operates in England. The housingmarket is, o course, national albeit with di erencesbetween the nations and the English regions. In the

ollowing section, re erences are principally to the UKas a whole, except where the data (which is orillustrative purposes) states otherwise.

It is o course impossible to provide a de nitive viewon the uture o the market, but we have undertakenextensive discussions with key analysts andstakeholders. As a result, we have produced aconsensus view on which this Plan is based. The HCAdoes not produce its own orecasts o the uture othe market, but it does draw extensively on the

views o others on these points.



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The UK economyThe UK is now su ering rom the most adverseeconomic conditions or a generation. Thedeteriorating housing market, which had originallybeen a US phenomenon, began to a ect the UKin late 2007 and was characterised by a sharp allin house prices, the number o new housing startsand housing land values.

The situation was largely caused by the shortage oloan and equity fnance, the so-called credit crunch.When the whole economy began to slip into

recession, unemployment levels began to rise sharplyand a number o high-profle companies becameinsolvent. This meant that hitherto unprecedentedaction was required in the orm o : An emergency re-capitalisation of many of the

leading British banks, resulting in state ownership(wholly or partly) o some institutions;

Reducing interest rates to near zero; Temporary reductions in consumer taxation; and Substantial increases in public expenditure and the

government borrowing requirement.

The housing marketThe UK housing market reached its peak in 2007.Since then: Average UK house prices have fallen by about

20% since their August 2007 peak according to the Halifax, but now appear to be starting to stabilise as illustrated in Figure 1 (right);

The number of housing starts in England has fallensharply, alling rom 42,730 in Q3 2007 to 18,340in Q1 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basisaccording to CLG;

The number of properties sold in England andWales has also allen sharply, alling by 62%between April 2007 and April 2009 according to the Land Registry;

Land values have almost halved over vequarters; however, according to Knight Frankvalues appeared to be stabilising by Q2 2009;

Mortgage nance has been very restricted, but is now starting to ease slightly as illustratedin Figure 2 (right). In June 2009 the Council oMortgage Lenders predicted a 5bn contraction in net mortgage lending or 2009. The averagedeposit or a frst time buyer in June 2009 was25% as compared to 13% a year earlier, re ecting

the scarcity o mortgages or those withoutsubstantial deposits.

Access to development and investment unding has also become much more di fcult

and costly; and Many mixed-use regeneration schemes have

e ectively stalled.

Figure : Recent trends in UK house prices

Change in house prices since the peak

m

S e p -

O c t -

N o v -

-

D e c -

J a n -

F e b -

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a r -

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J u n -

J u l -

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A u g -

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N o v -

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J a n -

F e b -

-

M

a r -

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p r -

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H al if ax N at io nw id e

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Sources: Halifax and Nationwide

Figure : Recent trends in mortgage advances

Number of loans approved for homes purchase

m

M a y -

J u n -

J u l -

A u g -

S e p -

O c t -

N o v -

D e c -

J a n -

F e b -

M a r -

A p r -

M a y -

J u n -

J u l -

A u g -

S e p -

O c t -

N o v -

D e c -

J a n -

F e b -

M a r -

A p r -

M a y -

J u n -

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders


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3. The policy and market context Homes and Communities Agency

The leading housebuilding companies have takenaction to preserve their nancial position. This hasinvolved closure o o ces and sta redundancies,en orcing cost cuts on suppliers, not entering intonew commitments, writing down the value o theirlandholdings and/or seeking to reduce the price paid

or new land.

The above refects that in the world economy isorecast to contract or the rst time in the post war

period, with the UK Gross Domestic Product orecastto drop by . %. As support rom macroeconomic

policy takes hold and credit conditions ease, theworld and UK economies are orecast to recover. TheBudget orecasts the UK recovery beginning inlate , with growth picking up through 1 ; theeconomy is orecast to grow strongly in 11.

. The Governmentsresponse

In conjunction

with

the

HCA

and

its

predecessor

agencies, the government has taken a number osigni cant actions in response to market problemsin order to stimulate both supply and demand ohousing. These include: The HomeBuy Direct scheme offering rst-time

buyers the chance to get onto the property ladderthrough a new shared equity scheme and byintroducing a Rent to HomeBuy scheme helpingprospective rst time buyers by o ering theoption to rent or a period o time be ore purchase;

A mortgage rescue scheme enabling homeowners acing repossession to remain in their home;

Bringing forward 350m by the end of 2009/10 in order to maintain delivery o a ordable housingand providing substantial extra resources orregeneration schemes, including 80mfor new projects in the HCAs Property andRegeneration Programme;

The housing scal stimulus package announced in the Budget ; and

The additional programme of affordable and other new homes that were part o the BuildingBritains Future announcement in June .

The government will report on progress in the Pre Budget Report and set out its strategy to supporta timely and e ective housing supply responsethrough the recovery, in order to maximise deliveryo high quality, energy e cient homes, supportingour long term housing supply and environmentalobjectives. This will cover measures to: Ensure suf cient land for development, through

housing allocations in local plans and urtheraction on public sector land, supported by aresponsive and e cient planning system;

Deliver effective and coordinated

in rastructure provision; Promote a strong and diverse house

building sector; Continue to ensure the increased long-term supply

o social and a ordable housing; and Ensure a proportionate approach to land-value

capture and cumulative regulation.

The speci c responses taken by the HCA arepresented more ully in section . .



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4OUR VISION,GOALS, VALUESAND PRINCIPLESOF INTERVENTION



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4. Our vision, goals, values and principles o intervention Homes and Communities Agency

The HCA was created by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 . The Act sets out four objects for the Agency: To improve the supply and quality of housing

in England; To secure the regeneration or development

o land or in rastructure in England; To support in other ways the creation,

regeneration or development o communitiesin England or their continued well being; and

To contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and good design with a view tomeeting the needs o people living in England.

.1 Our vision

Our vision is aspirational and highly motivational.It is to create opportunities or people and places: For people, a home they can afford and a place

they want to live in; and For places, ful lling local needs, aspirations

and ambitions.

For people , our ambition is bold: we believe thatour activities can help peoples lives by improvingtheir access to high quality accommodation acrosstenures, by trans orming the physical abric ocommunities and by helping to build the basis oreconomic prosperity across regions and localities.

For places , we recognise that housing is not su cientto create a sustainable community, whether in a newdevelopment or an existing settlement. We believethat the HCA can deliver quality places and increasedsupply: a key role or the Agency will be to help

bridge national targets and local ambitions. In otherwords, we are a national Agency that works locally.

.2 Our goals

Our goals are: Growth To contribute to the delivery o housing

growth, particularly in Growth Areas and GrowthPoints, to meet the needs o an expandingnumber o households and to address existingshort alls in accommodation;

A ordability To secure the delivery o newa ordable housing ( or social rent and a ordablehome ownership) and to ensure that existing

social rented stock is made decent; Renewal To support and accelerate the

regeneration o under per orming areas in linewith the governments regeneration rameworkand the renewal o deteriorating estates; and

Sustainability To maintain high and value or-money standards o design in buildings, publicspaces and places; and to embed sustainability economic, social and environmental acrossthe Agencys programme and the broaderhousebuilding and development industries, leavinga legacy o skills, knowledge and capacity.

To achieve these goals and as this Plan makes clear,we are pursuing a partnership approach to delivery,to be joined up in what we do and to add value in place making.

. Our values

In all organisations, values are a critical part o drivingthe corporate culture and shaping ways o working.

They represent a guarantee to partners o what theycan expect in a working relationship. For the HCA,our values are characterised by the Ds:

Delivery We make a real di erence tocommunities through our expertiseand experience.

Diversity We recognise the value o diversityamong our own sta and the need

or diverse outcomes to meetdi erent needs.

Drive We are ambitious or people andplaces, and strive or the higheststandards in all we do.



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Dialogue We build close, productiverelationships with our partners and

oster teamwork among our sta .

Development We continue to grow our expertiseby investing in personal development,encouraging creativity, empoweringpeople to lead and sharingbest practice.

At their heart, these values demonstrate ourcommitment to and passion or delivery. Our Board is

rmly committed to these values and has establishedAdvisory Boards to support some o the key themesrepresented by our values: Design and sustainability; Affordable rural housing; Equality and diversity; and Vulnerable and older people.

These boards will provide ocus and challenge toour work in these key, cross cutting areas. Section describes in more detail how we propose to approachand embed these priorities throughout our

programme and ways o working.

. Our principleso intervention

Our principles o intervention will be used as thebasis or articulating the case or new programmesand interventions. They will in orm the detailedcriteria for individual project decisions. They provide assurance that our activities will add value e ectivelyand o er best value or money. They will also giveour partners certainty about what they can expect

rom us.

We will act as an intelligent investor, intervening onlywhere there are ailures in land and property marketsor where there are clear government distributionalobjectives for housing and regeneration that cannot be met by the market.

We will act: To address such market failures; or

To achieve government objectives of social andeconomic equity which the market will not deliver.

In practice many o our interventions will addressseveral market ailures.

We will ocus our interventions and investmentwhere we can demonstrate value or money andadded value. This means that we will not undertakeactivities that replicate or could be delivered moree ciently by the private sector, the third sector orby other regional, sub regional and local deliverypartners. Our interventions will aim to dovetailwith other interventions and activities taking place,as opposed to our operating as a sole agent.

In summary, we will only intervene where: There is evidence of market failure in land

and property markets or clear governmentdistributional objectives for housing and regeneration;

Housing and regeneration objectives can be delivered in a cost e ective way; and

Where it can add value over existing delivery agents in the public and private sectors.

In intervening, we will:

Justifyour investment by the delivery of social anddistributional objectives, demonstrating that these objectives are delivered in the most cost-effective way and the trade o s are made explicit;

Undertake rigorous appraisal of interventions and investment. We will base investment decisions ona broad view o value or money, which includeswhole li e costs, social, environmental and

nancial returns, the long term sustainabilityo investments and o the communities involved,the distribution o costs and bene ts betweensocio economic groups and an appropriate levelo risk;

Use investment tools which are appropriate and proportionate to circumstances, both at theprogramme and project level; and

Take into account: The objectives of the various partners involved; The risks associated with the proposition

and who is best placed to take that risk; The degree of certainty about costs and

returns, and about activities and outputssought; and

The degree of certainty over outputs, such as a ordable housing, required

by government policy.



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5STRATEGY



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We have developed a two year strategy in responseto the signi cant challenges and opportunitiespresented by current economic conditions.

Feedback rom our stakeholders has been crucial tothis process and the views expressed at a series oin ormal consultation events have enabled us to buildon the vision and objectives that were outlined in the Interim Corporate Plan.

Out o necessity, we must prioritise actions and havehad to consider care ully where to strike the best

balance in a number o areas; or example betweenshort term housing numbers and long term strategicplace making or between initiatives that providesome quick wins, but which do not meet our existingquality and design standards, against investment inplaces that generates longer term bene ts.

We believe that the strategy outlined in this Plan willenable us to achieve our goals and we have there orestarted to align the Agencys programmes, activities,structure and processes and sta rmly behindits implementation.

Our strategy or the next two years is de nedthrough four key strategic objectives:

Objective 1 To maintain the programme momentumin the delivery o a ordable housing andsustainable regeneration.

Objective 2 To increase housing supply, respondingactively and innovatively to the marketand laying the oundations orthe uture.

Objective To implement and embed a place-ocused model o working.

Objective To create a single, integrated andresponsive organisation that operatese ciently and provides good value

or money.

We believe that our strategic objectives are interlinked and the success ul achievement o eachof these objectives is required to drive the Agencys short term per ormance and ensure that we are

well placed to take advantage o the eventualmarket recovery.

They are designed to draw upon the points made inthe preceding sections which bring together ourstatutory purposes, the governments policybackground and response to the market, both as itstands now and as the recovery takes hold.

In particular these objectives re ect the imperative or signi cant increases in the supply o additional

market and a ordable homes. Without early anddecisive action the recent slowdown in the rate ohousebuilding is likely to contribute signi cantly to

urther problems o homelessness, a ordability and

social division, declining public service delivery andincreasing costs to business.

We believe that the resources we have availableand the targets that are set out in this Plan orthe delivery o new a ordable homes, togetherwith our investment in other Programmes that aredesigned to lay the oundation or the growth inhousing numbers in the uture, will together providea major contribution to the governments overall long term targets.

But we cannot and will not work on our own. We arecommitted to working with partners at a national,regional and local level to secure the outcomes thatwe seek. To us, partners include not only the publicbodies that are active in this eld, such as localauthorities, Regional Development Agencies, CABEetc, but also the local communities and people whostand to bene t rom our investments. We alsorecognise the importance o the private sectorscapability and resources in contributing to housinggrowth and regeneration.

Particularly as the economy picks up and the housingmarket recovers, we expect to attract private nanceinto development schemes, whether through thedirect partnership approach or through planningrequirements. We will continue the work done byour predecessor bodies to encourage innovative andrisk sharing schemes, so that our investments areenhanced by the contributions o others and achievethe greatest bene t or the use o taxpayers money.

Even though we have substantial resources in orderto achieve our goals, they are not unlimited. We willbe allocating them in the manner that the Plan

describes but even this will mean that we cannotdo everything we would like to. Our Property andRegeneration Programme, or example, is largelylimited to ul lling existing inherited commitments.



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5. Strategy Homes and CHomes and Communities Agencommunities Agencyy

We are aware that our creation has raisedexpectations o us that we will need to managecare ully; as we embark on our Single Conversation,

or example, we will take great care to ensure thatwe do not encourage unrealistic expectations.We will work with all o our partners to ensure thatpriorities are rigorously examined and that resources

rom the private sector are maximised. Our localinvestment agreements will be based both onwhat is a ordable and what is achievable.

Our strategy includes a number o areas where

our aim is to raise the standards that our partnersdemand and achieve; nowhere is this more evidentthan in the need or high quality and sustainability.We appreciate that this must achieve value

or money, avoid additional public spendingcommitments, and not inhibit the rate o growthin housing supply.

Beyond these objectives, we are working up the Agenda or the next Comprehensive SpendingReview period, starting in March 11, more detailso which can be ound in Section Shaping

the Future.Implementation o our Plan is predicated on theHCA becoming more than the sum o its parts, i.e.a truly cohesive, integrated and fexible Agencythat conducts its business in a new manner; onethat will be able to contribute meaning ully to thegovernments targets o more new homes by 1 .

To help achieve this organisational change we areimplementing our Change Plan and the way in whichthis links our objectives to the desired outcomes is illustrated in Figure on page .



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Figure : Linking the strategic objectives to delivery our Change Plan

HCA strategicobjectives

To maintain theprogramme momentumin the delivery of

To increase housingsupply, respondingactively to the

To create a single,integrated andresponsive organisation

To implement aplace-focusedbusiness model

affordable housing and market and laying that operates efcientlysustainable regeneration the foundations and provides good

for the future value for money

Chart to set - awaiting powerpoint slide for copy tosetChange Plan

objectivesSharpen delivery

Demonstrateeffective delivery

Create the new

OrganisationBuild a single,

Embed the HCA

Become a valuedpartner

Deliver the Single

ConversationDeliver value

cohesive nationallyorganisation and locally

Workstreams Enhance programme Build a single, Instill further condence Develop a businessto achieve

and performancemanagement and

integrated organisationthat acts in line with its

in CLG, as our sponsor,in our ability to take on

model that supportsregional operations

scrutiny

Deploy innovative waysof working

Deliver measurableoutcomes to agreedoutput targets

Realise benets of theformation of the HCA

culture and values

Deliver new skills,increased capacityand new behaviours

Develop an integrated,supportive internalstructure for theAgency to enableeffective, exible

greater delegatedresponsibility to produceadditional benetswithout undue risk

Strive to gain

stakeholder and widercustomer recognitionthat we can deliver

Build partnercapacities

delivery both nationallyand locally

Outcomes byMarch

Established an agen cy,exemplary in itsmanagement

Created a single, integrated, exible and wellledorganisation that is well placed to realise the benetsthat were originally anticipated with a new Financial

Demonstrated anactive, innovative andeffective response to

and governance Framework that gives the Agency greater freedoms the market downturn

Effectively managedprogrammes andsuccessful delivery of

agreed output targetsfor /

and exibilities

Developed and delivered strong and effectiveprocess for communication and engagement of key

stakeholders at national, regional and local level

whilst ensuring theAgency and others areprepared to capitaliseon the upturn whenit occurs

Demonstrated ininnovative but practicalways the deliverybenets gained fromthe creation of the HCA

Established the Agencyas a leading authorityon a number ofkey policy anddelivery issues

Made substantialprogress in theimplementation of theSingle Conversation




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5. Strategy Homes and Communities Agency

Through the Change Plan we believe that we will beable to operate more e ectively and e ciently toensure that we bring genuine bene ts to both peopleand places.

We believe that we will be able to deliver 1 ,additional homes by 2013/14 (equivalent to 465m), compared with what would have been possible bythe predecessor organisations on their own.

.1 Maintaining programmemomentum

When we started work, we took over theprogrammes and projects from our predecessor organisations and undertook to deliver them asplanned or the remainder o the Spending Reviewperiod up to March 11.

We are determined to ensure that we maintainthe delivery o these programmes and utilise all the

available resources appropriately. We will there orecontinue to work closely with our key deliverypartners, at all levels, and enhance per ormanceand programme management within the HCA itsel .Increased delegation and greater fexibility betweenprogrammes will urther sharpen our e ectiveness.

In maintaining the momentum o delivery, we believethat it is important to demonstrate a clear ocuson our mission, vision and strategic objectives and to ensure that this refected in the balance in ourprogramme. In particular, we will: Make sure that the delivery of new and affordable

homes is accompanied by appropriateconsideration o each local communitys needsand what else needs to be provided (and bywhom) to support the development osustainable communities or example, education,health, community and other amenities, jobs

and training; Keep a dual focus on housing and regeneration

by addressing the speci c needs o each localcommunity and tailoring each place basedprogramme accordingly;

Not compromise the maintenance of high standards o design and sustainability throughoutthe programmes and, where possible andappropriate, seek opportunities to raise the barin these standards; and

Demonstrate that we can achieve more than our predecessors could have achieved on their own.

What we achieved in 2008/09The rst our months o our existence were anexciting time. We made good progress on a numbero ronts, building on the e orts o our predecessororganisations earlier in .

Our principal output achievements are shown inTable 1 overlea . It is worth highlighting that morethan , new homes were completed underour programmes, the overwhelming majority of which were a ordable.



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Table 1: 2008/09 Outputs achieved(a) National A ordable Housing Programme

OUTPUT MEASURE 2008/09 2008/09Target Outturn

A ordable Homes or Rent Completions (No.) 2 ,1 2 , 1

of which: Larger Homes (No.) 8,152 8,085

Low Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) Completions (No.) 21, 1 ,

Rural homes included within total completions (No.) 2,800 2,415

A ordable Homes or rent Starts on Site (No.) 1 , ,

Low Cost Home Ownership Starts on Site (No.) 1 1 , 1 ,

(b) Property and Regeneration Programme

OUTPUT MEASURE 2008/09 2008/09Target Outturn

Brownfeld Land Reclaimed (Ha.) 2 22 2

Housing Starts Commissioned (No.) 1 ,1 1 , ,1

Housing Completions (No.) , , ,2 1

Employment Floorspace (Sq m) , 1 , ,Private Sector Investment (m) 1, 1,1 1, 2Notes:1. The ormer English Partnerships used Housing Starts Commissioned as its prime indicator, whereas the Housing Corporation used physical starts on site.

The HCA has adopted the latter approach. The outturn number or English Partnerships in / on this basis was , .




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We were able to ully use all our nancial resourcesby 1 March . Including what was achievedbe ore December , we spent a total o3.9bn on our national housing and regeneration programmes, including 2.6bn on the National A ordable Housing Programme.

We regard this as a massive achievement, particularlyin the context o the total number o housingcompletions in England alling rom 1 , in /to 1 , 1 in / 1, as well as the fedgling natureo the new Agency. In particular, we believe that this

would not have been possible i we had not actedfexibly and tailored solutions to our partners needs.We are con dent that our per ormance in / willgive all our partners con dence in our ability to helpthem deliver in di cult times.

Amongst our successes during our rst ew monthswere the ollowing: London: 93m invested in a programme to unlock

major regeneration projects such as Woodberry Down, Hackney and the Aylesbury Estatein Southwark;

South West: an innovative investment packageagreed to unlock four major sites across Dorset to provide over new homes with more than37m of HCA funding;

South East: plans or the ormer GraylingwellHospital site approved by Chichester DistrictCouncil or a net zero carbon development o

new homes, including % a ordablehousing and a mix o homes ranging romone to ve bedrooms;

East o England: invested 3.8m in a 6m enabling project with the East of England Development Agency to allow the demolitiono a car park and creation o space or a multi-million pound education acility or the Universityo Essex in Southend;

East Midlands: invested 7m in the Sangra and Shonki buildings in Leicester to allow phase 1 othis employment and housing scheme to progress.This includes extra care units and communal

acilities. The scheme is being progressed withLeicester Housing Association and three locallyrun BME cooperatives to create high qualitymixed tenure city living;

West Midlands: invested 11.9m jointly with

Urban Living (the Housing Market RenewalPath nder or Birmingham and Sandwell) to bringorward a start on site at the stalled Crocodile

Works project in Newtown, Birmingham to create 1 new a ordable homes or the area;

North West: in Broughton, Salford, we joined orces with Manchester Sal ord Path nder,

Countryside Properties, In Partnership and Sal ordCity Council to strengthen the delivery plansto trans orm one o the regions most deprivedcommunities. Increasing the HCA investmentby a further 7m will help create more than 200 high quality, a ordable amily homes, as wellas a new community hub;

Yorkshire and Humber: a fexible and innovativeapproach on our part has changed the natureand timetable of a 16m investment in Park Hill,

She eld. Work with developers Urban Splashhas ensured continued the momentum in the

rst phase regeneration o this Grade II listedbuilding. The re pro ling o investment in boththe development and support to home ownerswill create a mixed community on the citycentre skyline;

North East: in March we unded GatesheadCouncil to enable it to buy the ormer CentralFreight Depot site rom the British Rail ResiduaryBody. This is a site that has been derelict oralmost 20 years and our 3.5m intervention

helps complete the assembly o a site capable odelivering new homes as a key part o theBridging Newcastle Gateshead HMR Path nderprogramme in the Newcastle Gateshead GrowthPoint area; and

Milton Keynes: the Milton Keynes Tari provided1.5m to MK General Hospital to fund essential in rastructure to allow expansion o the healthcareprovision in this growing city.

Over the past 1 months, the HCA Academyhas promoted the UKs rst Foundation Degreein Sustainable Communities to include a universityin every region in England. By 11, students acrossthe country will be able to undertake a programmethat will widen access routes to careers in thehousing, planning and regeneration sectors. TheAcademy has also piloted a place based approachto capacity building with North Sta ordshireRegeneration Partnership, Milton Keynes SouthMidland and Tees Valley Unlimited, three areasundergoing signi cant trans ormations.

1 Source: CLG Housing Statistics



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Resources in 2009/10 and 2010/11The overall level o nancial resources available tothe HCA or the next two years are set out in Table (opposite); the gures or / are includedby way o comparison.

These include both the additional resources that hadbeen made available to us be ore the Budget ,and the Housing Stimulus Package. Both will providegood new opportunities or us to make a substantialimpact in the rst ull year o our operation andenable us to deliver more and greener homes.

In addition to this, we will take responsibility or theresources totalling 1.5bn that were announced in Building Britains Future or a signi cantly enlargedprogramme o public house building over a two yearperiod. Further details o these new programmesare described below.

In 1 /11, however, the level o resources availableto us is currently scheduled to be lower than in

/1 . This will make it more di cult or usto maintain the desired momentum in the secondyear. We will look very closely at what options,

or combinations o options, are open to us.These could include: Loading our expenditure in 2009/10 so that it

produces outputs in 1 /11; Increasing the loan/equity component of our

spending so that we will receive cash back inuture years;

Increasing the use of our own land at nil cost up ront so as to generate a return later through overage;

Leveraging in other sources of land and/or unding;

Looking to an upturn in the private housing

sector; and Boosting our disposal receipts.

How we plan to utilise our programme resourcesis illustrated in more detail in Table (page ).This shows how the Capital Programme expenditureis allocated between the programmes.

For the majority of our programmes we have ull responsibility or the resources and the

administration, but we also run programmes orwhich the resources remain with the Department: In the case of the Arms Length Management

Organisations (ALMOs) part o the DecentHomes Programme we o er advice and

recommendations to Ministers who then allocatethe amounts o supported borrowing that willbe required by individual ALMOs;

Similarly under the Housing PFI programme, we recommend to government how the PFI creditsshould be allocated for housing projects;

The resources for the Local Authority New Build Programme contain an element or borrowing bythe local authorities. Whilst we will make decisionson the projects that the programme will support overall, the nancial cover or such borrowingremains with CLG.



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Table 2: HCAs fnancial resources

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 1(outturn)

RESOURCES millions millions millions

Baseline: Capital DEL2 3,669 , 1 , 1

Housing Stimulus Package 0 1

Housing Pledge 0

Baseline: Near Cash DEL 147 1 2 1

Net Programme Receipts (DEL) 148

Other Receipts 33 22 22

TOTAL RESOURCES 3,997 5,761 4,639

UTILISATION

Programme Expenditure 3,912 , 1 ,

Running Costs 85

TOTAL UTILISATION 3,997 5,761 4,639Notes:1. In 2010/11, 540m of the HCAs resources are expected to come from underspends in government departments and End Year Flexibility, to provide funding

or the Building Britains Future programme.2. These gures are net of the proposed capital ef ciencies that will be sought from several HCA programmes totalling 108m in 2009/10 and 75m in

1 /11 to provide unding or the Building Britains Future programme.

3. The HCAs baseline running cost budget has been agreed at 86m. The gures for 2009/10 include additional resources provided for the costs of transition to the new Agency and restructuring, and or 1 /11 refect planned e ciency savings. The outturn or / was lower due to a number o vacant postsinherited rom predecessor organisations. These were held vacant at the outset in order to acilitate the restructuring that is now underway.




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Table 3: Planned expenditure by programme

HCA PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE

Baseline Programmes

2008/09(outturn) 2009/10 2010/11

millions millions millions

National A ordable Housing Programme 2,632 ,2 2,Property and Regeneration 383 211

Growth Funding 265 2 1

Thames Gateway 44

Community In rastructure Fund 37 1 2 1

Places o Change 33 2 2

Social Housing E fciency Programme 2 2

Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant 0 2 2

Decent Homes Gap Funding 123 1

Housing Market Renewal 381 11

HCA Academy 6

New Communities Fund 0 1

Mixed Communities and other


31/122Our Vision, Real actions 29


The National Affordable Housing Programme(NAHP) and the Property and Regeneration (P&R)Programmes represent the funding streams inheritedfrom the former Housing Corporation and EnglishPartnerships respectively. The HCA Academy isthe former Academy for Sustainable Communities.All the other programmes were transferred from CLG.Their strategic direction and funding allocations arecurrently determined by corporate teams withinthe Agency in conjunction, where appropriate, withCLG. A description of each programme can be foundin Annex 1.

Much of the funding is already contractuallycommitted or allocated to recipients, mainly localauthorities as a result of formal bidding rounds.We have a key role to play in ensuring the effectivedelivery of these allocations. The Single Conversationsthat we will be engaging in with local authoritieswill be one of the ways in which we will do this.

The distribution of the HCAs programme expenditurein the next two years can also be seen in Figure 4.

Figure : Forecast programme expenditureby HCA programme: / and /

/

N A H P

P & R

H o u s i n g

S t i m ul u

s

( B u d g e t 0 9 )

H o u s i n g

P l e

d g e

H MR

G r ow

t h

F un

d i n

g

D e c en

t

H om

e s

T h a m

e s

G a t ew

a y

O t h er

P r o

gr a mm

e s

T o t a l

R e s o ur c e

s

C I F

m

/

N A H P

P & R

H o u s i n g

S t i m ul u

s

( B u d g e t 0 9 )

H o u s i n g

P l e

d g e

H MR

G r ow

t h

F un

d i n

g

D e c en

t

H om

e s

T h

a m

e s

G a t ew

a y

O t h er

P r o

gr a mm

e s

T o t a l

R e s o ur c e

s

C I F

m

Notes:Other Programmes comprise Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant, Placesof Change, HCA Academy, Social Housing Efciency Programme, NewCommunities Fund and Irrecoverable VAT.

The capital efciencies that will be sought from several HCA programmestotalling m in / and m in / to provide fundingfor the Building Britains Future (BBF) programme are not included.


32/12230 Our Vision, Real actions


Housing stimulus and Building Britains Future The numbers of additional new homes as a resultpackages 2009 of these packages are included in the targets setWe particularly welcome the announcements in out in Tables 5a to 5f. Here too, our commitmentBudget 2 9 and in Building Britains Future of a to high standards of sustainability will set goodfurther stimulus to the housing market. What this examples to the housebuilding, construction andmeans for us is as shown below: development sectors.

Budget 2009 Package

Resources Description

400m The Housing Kickstart Programme: the aim is to provide development nance tohousing schemes with planning permission where high debt or cash fow problems are

preventing completion.The resources are split between 2009/10 and 2010/11 and will enable more socialhousing to be built.Strong interest in this package has been expressed by our partners and the rst roundo success ul bidders was announced in 2009.

80m Additional resources or the Mortgage Rescue Scheme.

100m A und or local authorities that wish to develop new build properties. In additionto 50m grant unding, a urther 50m covers additional local authority borrowing.The success ul bidders or unding were announced on 9 September 2009.

104m A Housing Environment package to provide additional unding or: Cavity wall insulation in social housing, which will be run through the Decent

Homes Programme Low-carbon community heating schemes.

Housing Pledge in Building Britains Future

Resources Description

Up to 756m To be invested through the National A ordable Housing Programme and will there orebe available or our approved investment partners housing associations, ALMOs andprivate developers. It is expected that this will create around 12,500 new homes.

Up to 504m To be added to the existing 400m programme or the Housing Kickstart Initiativeto help get stalled housing and regeneration schemes moving again.

In view o the high level o bids already received, we anticipate taking orward upto 270 schemes rom the rst bidding round.

Up to 240m To be added to the Local Authority build programme. It is expected that this will undan additional 3,000 new homes.

Up to 16m A new Public Land Programme initially or around 500 new homes which willbe designed to bring new construction players into the housing market.

It will make use o land already in public ownership which we, and other public sectororganisations, would contribute in return or an equity share in the development.


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Table 4: Regional baseline allocations National A ordable Housing and Propertyand Regeneration Programmes

2009/10 2010/11 millions millions millions millions

NAHP1 P&R NAHP1 P&R(See above)

National and Corporate Programmes 1

New regeneration projects

Regional allocations:

East Midlands 146 34 85

East of England 292 31 197

London 1,349 33 1,102

Partnership 2 Milton Keynes 2

North East 85 31 46

North West 216 40 149

South East 502 16 373

South West 300 14 206

West Midlands 180 31 130

Yorkshire and Humber 159 22 93

Total 3,248 406 2,480 211

Notes:1. The allocations under the NAHP Programme include the core unding or HomeBuy Direct ( /1 only) and Mortgage Rescue.

. There is no separate A ordable Housing budget or the Milton Keynes Partnership; this is included in the South East totals.


Regional allocationsHow we propose to allocate resources betweenthe regions over the two year period o the Planis illustrated in the ollowing tables and charts.This regional distribution is largely a unction odecisions and commitments previously made by thepredecessor organisations and there is very limiteddiscretion or re balancing the regional allocationsduring the remainder o the current CSR period.

The core allocations or the National A ordableHousing Programme (NAHP) are based on the CSR

2007 baselines, but have been adjusted to re ect current market conditions. They include allocations

or HomeBuy Direct and Mortgage Rescue. Theseare ring enced pots and, as the programmes aredemand led, the unding may be redistributedaccording to need.

The Property and Regeneration Programme (P&R) isconstrained to existing commitments only in /1because o limited resources, apart rom the urther80m that has been brought forward for new regeneration projects.

In 1 /11 resources or the Property andRegeneration Programme are expected to beconsiderably lower than in /1 as a result o

unding being brought orward and the likelihoodo there being no recovery in receipts that can bere invested in the programme. The capacity or new

commitments will continue to be tight but we willactively manage the investment programme toachieve the maximum impact. Regional allocationswill be made in due course.



34/12232 Our Vision, Real actions


At present the additional resources provided underthe Budget 009 package and the Housing Pledgein Building Britains Future have not been ormallyallocated between our regions, as we wish to maintainfexibility in their utilisation.

As part o their 009 business planning each HCAregion has identi ed its initial key spatial and thematicpriorities or the delivery o the programme in itsarea, as illustrated in Annex .

Another way o showing the regional allocation o

resources can be seen in Figures 5a and 5b (Figure 5arelates to the NAHP, whilst Figure 5b covers theremaining programmes; they are separated becauseo the dominance o the NAHP in the overall HCAprogramme). Together, these show clearly that theimpact o the NAHP is ocused very much onsouthern England whereas across the rest othe country there is a broader base o unding

or other programmes.

/

L o n d o n

/

S o u t

h E a s t

/

S o u t

h W e s t

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f

E n g

l a n d

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h W e s t

/

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d s

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k s h i r e

&

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H u m

b e r

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d s

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h E a s t

Figure : Anticipated funding allocations by region

Figure a: National Affordable Housing allocations

by regionm -year funding allocations by region

Whilst the HCA is a major investor in the regions, weare not the only source o unding (see Section 5.4).

We are however one of the major contributors toother unding streams or the regions (principallyTransport, RDA single budgets and ERDF), which werethe subject of the 2008 Regional Funding Adviceexercise. Figure 6 seeks to put HCA unding intothe context o these other unding streams.

Figure b: Other HCA Programmes

m

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d o n

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h E a s t

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h W e s

t

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t h W e s

t

P&R Growth Funding CIFOther (Includes PCP, G&T, SHEP and HCA Academy)

/

W e s

t

HMR Decent Homes Gap Funding Thames Gateway

M i d l a n d s

/

Y o r k s h

i r e

&

T h e

H u m

b e r

/

E a s t

M i d l a n d s

/

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t h E a s t

Figure : HCA and RFA funding allocations by region

Other investment by Region RFA

m

/

L o n d o n

/

S o u t

h E a s t

/

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h W

e s t

/

E a s t o f

P&R Growth Funding

E n g

l a n

d

/

N o r

t h W

e s t

HMR

/

W

e s t

M i d l a n d s

/

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&

T h e

H u m

b e r

/

E a s t

M i d l a n d s

/

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h E a s t

Thames Gateway

Notes: Because of the unique governance status of London, comparable RFA

gures for London are not available. Source of RFA allocatio ns: HM Treasury, July 2008.


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What our investment achievesThe programmes we inherited have di erentapproaches to the way in which they measureoutputs and set targets. The National A ordableHousing Programme is agreed between us and thegovernment, but the outputs and targets or theProperty and Regeneration (P&R) Programmewere traditionally proposed internally and thenpresented through the Corporate Plan.

On the other hand, many o the trans erredprogrammes tend to have a number o longer term

ambitions, such as the Decent Homes target.

Within the context o a uni ed Agency, we recognisethat this disparate approach is not practicable.We are there ore working towards an IntegratedPer ormance Framework, which is described inmore detail in Section .1. This is an ambitious pieceo work, the ull bene ts o which will come ullyon stream later in .

In the meantime, Tables a to below presentsa summary o the output targets or /1 and

1 /11, together with our current orecasts orthe number o additional a ordable homes that it isanticipated will be built in 11/1 as a result o theHousing Pledge. Annex 1 describes the completerange o our programmes and also includes detailsof the individual programme targets and trajectories to which we are also working.

We have made the conscious decision to prioritiseresources on maintaining the supply o new homes

or social rent. This will have some impact on LowCost Home Ownership (LCHO). Given the comparativeunit costs o rent compared to LCHO, this prioritisationmeans that we have set ourselves an ambitioustarget, but one that we eel is achievable.



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Table 5a: Output targets or 2009/10 2010/11 A ordable homes completed

HCA TARGETS AFFORDABLE HOMES 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 1 2011/12 2009-12Estimate 2Outturn Target Target TOTAL

AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLETIONS 47,276 2, , , 1 ,

(1) Social Rent, of which:

NAHP Social Rent 27,501 2 , , 2 , 2,

Larger Homes (rent only) 29% % %

Kickstart: Budget 2 1, 1,

Local Authority New Build

Plus additional rom Housing Pledge

Social Rent 2, ,2 ,

Kickstart: Housing Pledge 1, 2,

Local Authority New Build 2, ,

Public Land 2 22 2

Total Social Rent Target 27,501 27,500 35,825 34,325 97,650

Other 7 1,000 1,000 1,000 3,000

(2) Low Cost Home Ownership, of which:

NAHP LCHO 19,775 2 , 1 , 11, ,

Kickstart: Budget 2 1, 1,

Plus additional rom Housing Pledge

LCHO 1, , ,

Kickstart: Housing Pledge 1, 2,

Public Land 2 22 2

Total Low Cost Home Ownership Target 19,775 25,000 17,575 15,675 58,250

Other 7 2,000 2,000 2,000 6,000

1. It is proposed that later in there will be a ormal review o the NAHP output targets or 1 /11.. Modelling assumption only, not a proposed target.. It is estimated that there will be , a ordable units on Kickstart s

HCA Corporate Plan

Documents

Transcript of HCA Corporate Plan