Homes England is the

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of na ...

that funds new

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on aff ...

in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation, and became operational on 1 December 2008.

History

On 17 January 2007,

Ruth Kelly Ruth Maria Kelly (born 9 May 1968) is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010. Previously, she served as the Secretary of State for Transport, ...

announced proposals to bring together the investment functions of the Housing Corporation,

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...

and parts of the

Department for Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...

to form a new unified housing and regeneration agency. It would also incorporate the functions of the

Academy for Sustainable Communities The Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) is a national skills initiative that has been set up by the Department of Communities and Local Government. In April 2004, Sir John Egan, a leading industrialist and past president of the Institute of ...

and the government's advisory team for large applications. In the following months, Martin Cave, Director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

, led the most comprehensive review of English housing regulation for 30 years. Reporting in June, the Cave Review recommended that a new regulator be set up, separating the regulation and investment responsibilities of the Housing Corporation. On 15 October 2007,

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Home Secretary since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2015. She served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2008 to 2009 and Work and Pe ...

announced that the Government accepted the recommendation of the Cave Review to transfer the Corporation's regulatory powers to an independent body, subsequently named as the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). The new investment body was initially announced as "Communities England", and later renamed as the Homes and Communities Agency. The Chief Executive for the body was announced as Bob Kerslake in December 2007. Kerslake had led the regeneration of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and ...

as chief executive of the City Council since 1997. On 17 October 2008 the Housing Minister

Iain Wright Iain David Wright (born 9 May 1972) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 2004 to 2017, and served also as the Chairman of Business Innovation and Skills Committee. He was previously Par ...

announced the Board members of the HCA including Robert Napier (chair),

Kate Barker Dame Katharine Mary Barker (born 1957) is a British economist. She is principally noted for her role at the Bank of England and for advising the British government on social issues such as housing and health care. Early career Barker grew ...

Candy Atherton Candice Kathleen Atherton (21 September 1955 – 30 October 2017) was a British Labour politician and journalist. After serving as a councillor in Islington, where she was mayor, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Falmouth and Camborne from ...

, and Shaukat Moledina (previously Vice-Chair of the Housing Corporation). Kerslake was appointed as a

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil s ...

at the agency's parent

in September 2010. The HCA announced that it would appoint an interim Chief Executive from existing staff.Sir Bob Kerslake appointed as permanent secretary at Communities and Local Government
, HCA, 6 September 2010 Housing minister

Grant Shapps Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who is serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Transport in the Johnson governme ...

announced early on that the TSA would be abolished as part of the cull of

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

s by the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

after the 2010 general election. In June 2010, he said that the HCA would be retained but become "smaller, more strategic - with the HCA's functions being delivered under local leadership." In September 2010, the HCA was also included on a list of organisations being considered for closure. However, Shapps announced in October that the TSA would be merged into the HCA. In November, he confirmed that the HCA would be retained, but reformed to cut running costs.

New initiatives

The HCA's Kickstart programme provided grants to developers in order to rescue stalled projects during the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

, helping to maintain employment and output of new homes. One of the most groundbreaking Kickstart projects was a £45.6 million investment in Berkeley Homes to provide 555 new homes for rent on the open market, located in London, the south east and south west. However, after a campaign for disclosure by ''

Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less compli ...

'' magazine, the agency revealed that many Kickstart projects failed to meet CABE's standards of good design.

Sale of ransom strips

The pilot sale of micro plots was compared to driveway ransoms when Homes England wrote to householders in Birmingham warning that Homes England owned microplots between the household and the public road. Homes England said it had written to 90 householders however a freedom of information request found over 500 micro plots for sale in the Redditch and Bromsgrove boroughs. Homes England said that if householders did not purchase microplots they could be sold to third parties. A third party sale was expected by homeowners to result in the micro plot being used as a ransom strip.

Social Housing Regulator

The Homes and Communities Agency acted as the government's Social Housing Regulator. It provided regular reports on each registered social housing agency in England. In March 2014, it made its first ruling that a housing association had breached its "serious detriment" threshold for harm to consumers for its home repairs against Circle 33, due to "chronic and long standing difficulties in the delivery of the repairs service". In Scotland this function is performed by the

Scottish Housing Regulator The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is an independent Non-Ministerial Department, directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. The body was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. SHR is the successor to the previ ...

. In Wales, the function is carried out by the Welsh government.Welsh government: Housing Regulation
gov.wales website

References

External links

* {{Authority control Housing in England Public housing in England Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Interested parties in planning in England Governance of England 2008 establishments in England Regulators of England Government agencies established in 2008 Housing organisations based in London