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A National Audit Office report to Parliament published on 21 January 2010 finds that the government’s programme to improve the condition of homes for social housing tenants and vulnerable households in private sector accommodation has made appreciable progress and that, as of April 2009, 86% of homes in the social sector are now classed as decent.
The decent homes programme has also brought wider benefits such as improved housing management, tenant involvement and employment opportunities.
There is, however, still much to do. The original target was for all social sector homes to classified as decent by 2010, but by November 2009 Communities and Local Government (CLG) estimated that approximately 92% of social housing would meet the standard by 2010, leaving 305,000 properties ‘non-decent’. One hundred per cent decency is unlikely to be achieved until 2018-19.
The report concludes that there are weaknesses in the information collected by the department, warning that information gaps create a risk to the attainment of value for money. Weaknesses in CLG’s information holdings are illustrated by uncertainties over the total cost of the programme to the department or to the sector and the number of properties improved.
Unless a plan is put in place to fund housing repairs appropriately, there remains a risk that a backlog will again build up, reducing the value for money of what has been accomplished so far.