The new housing minister's to-do list

This is even more significant, especially following the high profile housing attracted throughout the campaign, in no small part as a result of the successful cross-sector #GE17housing campaign. Housing successfully featured alongside the usual suspects of Brexit, national security, education and the NHS.

“We will be watching eagerly to see where housing sits within the new government architecture.”

In any post-election period, there is always a full spectrum of emotions – uncertainty vs excitement; disappointment at the outcome vs elation; fear vs hope.

What we do need to remember is that we live in a democracy. Whatever personal views individuals may have on the outcome of the election, we should embrace the result. The recent horrific events in both Manchester and London are a timely reminder of why this is at the heart of living in a civilised society.

Our focus now needs to be on working with the new administration to help shape the housing policy for the parliamentary term ahead, however long this may last! We all know and recognise that we are about to enter into unknown territory as the Brexit negotiations begin in earnest.

In my last IH50 post I reflected on the pivotal role housing has secured on the back of the cross-party consensus that we are in the middle of a housing crisis.

Housing associations and councils have a proven track record of delivering a continued supply of quality affordable homes, even during periods of significant economic uncertainty, including throughout the financial crash 10 years ago. The post-Brexit era offers a range of opportunities for us to demonstrate we are part of the future, for whichever direction the country takes.

We need to ensure that housing associations and councils continue to be viewed by the new government as an integral part of the solution to achieving the much-needed supply of new homes across a range of housing-related products.

The housing sector works best when there’s long-term certainty and an ability to flex to meet the changing housing markets and economic climate. Our business plans rely on this. Clearly one area where this is key is our income stream, primarily from rents.

The recent insightful article by Nick Yandle on rent flexibilities neatly summarises our purpose: “to improve people’s lives by building new homes and providing vital support for some of the most vulnerable people in society”. It also makes the point that we need the confidence to make the decisions that help us invest in our communities.

This should be towards the top of the to-do list for the new housing minister. This lack of clarity is undermining the stable platform from which we are able to ratchet up new build programmes.

“The housing sector works best when there’s long-term certainty.”

Other things the new housing minister needs to focus on are:

• Removing the barriers to the delivery of new homes
• Funding (where required) to deliver regeneration solutions that are an integral element to balancing housing markets
• Remove the Local Housing Allowance cap for supported housing that has stalled so many supported housing developments, which in turn contribute to addressing some of the funding pressures on adult social care services
• Address the issues with full-service Universal Credit as highlighted by the Work and Pensions Select Committee earlier this year

We have worked hard to get housing up the political agenda. We now need to build on this as the real work is ahead of us. We need to deliver throughout what will be a pivotal period for both the success of our country and our contribution to this.

If by the time of the next general election in 2022 (or earlier) we are asked the question “so what stopped you doing more?” we need to have a very clear and legitimate answer.

Nick Atkin, chief executive, Halton Housing Trust