• Home
  • About
  • Newsletters
  • Conference
  • TMS Links
  • Calendar
  • Log In
  • Register

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • Legal & General invests £100m in Sunderland regeneration project

    November 28, 2019

  • Somerset council invests in Devon industrial site

    November 28, 2019

  • Appeal Court backs Birmingham’s £19m sprinkler spending

    November 28, 2019

  • Border to Coast launches private credit offering

    November 28, 2019

  • Darlington estimates 17% annual return on proposed housing company

    November 28, 2019

  • Knowsley buys town centre land to kickstart regeneration

    November 28, 2019

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Jobs

Liverpool to reopen housing revenue account

0
  • by Colin Marrs
  • in 151 News · Technical
  • — 22 May, 2019
housing, keys
Photo: Pixabay/CC0

Liverpool City Council is set to reopen its housing revenue account to build new council homes – 11 years after it transferred its remaining stock to a registered provider.

In an interview with the Liverpool Echo, the city’s mayor, Joe Anderson said that the move will help the city meet a target of delivering 10,000 new homes in the city.

The move comes two months after the government issued guidance for councils on how to open an HRA, following the government’s decision to lift the housing revenue debt cap.

Anderson told the paper: “We are already refurbishing some houses that will be council homes, but this is where we will be building the first council houses that have been built in this city for over 30 years and we are really excited about that.

“We have pledged that we will build 10,000 houses and now a very large proportion of them will be council houses for people to rent – affordable, social, council houses that we desperately need in this city.”

Anderson claimed in the interview that the move had come after negotiations with housing minister Kit Malthouse.

He said that talks had focused around the removal of debt on the account dating from 2008.

That year, the previous Liberal Democrat regime transferred the last of the council’s housing stock – consisting of 15,000 homes – to Liverpool Mutual Homes.

However, it is understood that the remaining debt on the properties was written off by the government at the time, and that there was never any suggestion by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government that the debt would be reactivated.

Guidance released by the department in March confirmed that councils do not need permission to open an HRA, but that councils should inform the department in writing.

Under the law, a local authority may hold up to 199 homes outside the HRA under direction from the secretary of state.

Once the 200 home threshold is reached, a local authority must open an HRA and may borrow prudentially to continue their building.

An HRA is a ring-fenced account within the general fund, and is not allowed to budget for a deficit.

John Bibby, chief executive of the Association of Retained Council Housing, told Room151: “The lifting of the debt cap is part of a new encouragement from the government for councils to deliver a new generation of housing.

“Anecdotally, I believe some other councils are looking at this but I am not aware of any that have approached government yet in the way Liverpool has.”

In December, the council launched a wholly-owned housing company, Foundations, aimed refurbishing and building 10,000 homes over the next decade.

At the time of the publication, the council had not responded to Room151’s questions about the future of this company.

More than 100 councils closed their HRAs during the 1990s and early part of this century as part of a wave of large-scale voluntary stock transfers (LSVTs) to housing associations.

The first full LSVT took place in December 1988 in Chiltern district, when 4,400 units were transferred into the newly-created Chiltern Hundreds Housing Association.

Get the Room 151 Newsletter

Room151 Conferences & Events



Share

You may also like...

  • PWLB abolition raises questions about future lending governance 6 Jan, 2015
  • Devolution white paper announcement accompanied by hint on unitary push 3 Oct, 2019
  • News round-up: Barnett Formula, Norfolk’s development company, European money funds, £1.75bn for housing in Scotland 15 Jun, 2017
  • West Berkshire’s lack of procurement process for Newbury development ruled unlawful 22 Nov, 2018

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room 151 13 hours ago

    Doug McMurdo: LGPS, the Stewardship Code, good governance and protecting capital: I have spent the last decade leading Bedfordshire Pension Fund (BPF) as chairman of the pensions committee. We are facing many challenges, not least the reforms that the… dlvr.it/RKfJrD

    Room 151 13 hours ago

    Active managers still in the game: Under performance and high costs have given active management a bad press, some of it well deserved. But it appears to be on the brink of a renaissance with some[...] dlvr.it/RKfJjR pic.twitter.com/yyAcm1wSMy

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Court ruling leaves councils facing compensation bills for water overcharging: Councils could face compensation costs running into the millions after the High Court ruled that a council unlawfully overcharged its tenants for supplying water from 2002,… dlvr.it/RKZnQK pic.twitter.com/tawdmA9wlE

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Election 2019: “Stark” differences in parties’ proposals for council funding: Conservative Party manifesto proposals would not meet rising costs faced by councils, while Labour Party policies would meet demand even with a council tax freeze, according to… dlvr.it/RKZnNT pic.twitter.com/F16kSfQrXI

    Room 151 2 days ago

    LGPS women discuss: climate & pension fund investing: Climate change has become one of the biggest issues for asset owners and managers as they move to tackle global warming. Room151 convened a roundtable of LGPS practitioners and advisers[...] dlvr.it/RKXsWW pic.twitter.com/3rtUTapwkF

    Room 151 4 days ago

    Interview: Doug Heron, CEO, Lothian Pension Fund: Doug Heron is heading towards marking one year at Lothian after making the switch from the world of fintech platforms to local government pensions. He talks to Room151 about core[...] dlvr.it/RKSQPK pic.twitter.com/ltHR6AS5gD

    Room 151 6 days ago

    LGPS and the climate change revolution: The pressure to integrate climate change thinking into LGPS asset management is growing. At the Room 151 LGPS Asset Allocation Forum, experts insisted climate be seen as a strategic issue[...] dlvr.it/RKK1cY pic.twitter.com/G87J33R4yS

    Room 151 6 days ago

    Conference chairs, ‘tree-hugging’ and overcharging pension investors: I have a story about two LGPS conferences, two conference chairs and an industry that appears to be changing for the better. I know, sounds like a real doozy, but[...] dlvr.it/RKK1Xy pic.twitter.com/6zYQFuuwAr

    Room 151 7 days ago

    Council feels financial squeeze on housing company pledge: The London Borough of Newham is set to approve a £113.1m funding package to support the latest phase of homes being developed by its wholly-owned housing company- but has admitted[...] dlvr.it/RKHwWy pic.twitter.com/jFrVeCWSw6

    Room 151 1 week ago

    Lack of benefits prompts shared services rethink: A major local authority shared services venture involving Northamptonshire County Council is to be restructured after it was revealed that a number of service areas were only included to boost[...] dlvr.it/RKDypl pic.twitter.com/f0R37mvCtP

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Blogs
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • LGPSi
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Recent Posts
    • Resources
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
  • Archives

    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Norfolk raises savings target to £40m for next financial year
  • Next story Councillors ignore officer warning over £1.4m cost of scrapping development plan

© Copyright 2019 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this website.OK