Government launches Homes and Communities Agency

The Government has launched a new body responsible for housing and regeneration.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is headed by Sir Robert Kerslake, formerly chief executive of Sheffield City Council.

It has been formed from the amalgamation of the Housing Corporation, which previously funded social housing projects, and English Partnerships, the national regeneration agency.

HCA has a budget of £17.4 billion over next three years, much of which will be used to kick-start new developments that can provide affordable housing.

The Government’s target of three million new homes by 2020 has been seriously threatened by the credit crisis and the downturn in the UK housing market.

Most private developers have been reporting plummeting sales since the beginning of the year and have therefore mothballed new projects

Sir Bob, as he is known, says he is keen to work with house building firms and is looking at the possibly of the HCA taking stakes in private developments and buying up development land.

The agency will also be encouraging councils to build new homes and exploring means of securing more private and institutional finance for the UK house building industry.

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