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Since their launch nearly six months ago, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Tenants Services Authority (TSA) have rarely been out of the (housing) headlines. Both have been broadly welcomed as ‘forces for good’ by the sector but what impact, if any, have they really made during their first 200 days?

These fledgling agencies, of course, have entirely different remits and as someone who is forced (sometimes at gunpoint) to analyse what’s happening in the world of social housing it’s interesting to note how attitudes are beginning to change towards the two bodies.

When plans for the HCA were initially unveiled many saw it merely as a continuation of the Housing Corporation with bits of English Partnerships and the Academy for Sustainable Communities thrown in for good measure.

The Tories in particular were highly sceptical of this new ‘super quango’ believing it would simply add more red tape to the delivery of affordable housing at great expense to the taxpayer and with no accountability to the electorate.

Indeed the question of how much the HCA cost to set up and run is still regularly tabled for debate in the House of Commons. (For anyone interested the HCA cost £20 million to set up, spread over three years, with running costs of £86 million per annum - £14 million below budget).

Six months down the line and I can’t think of one person outside the Conservative Party who has a bad thing to say about the HCA. It should be pointed out, however, that the onset of the recession and the considerable impact it has had on the housing market has made its role hugely important.

At a time when housing developments of all shapes and sizes have ground to a halt, the HCA has lived up to its billing and fast-tracked millions of pounds into schemes that would otherwise have fallen by the wayside.

Sir Bob Kerslake has made it a personal mission to drive forward new home-building and his promise to use the Agency as the point of a ‘single conversation’ between developers, planners, housing associations and other partners seems to be streamlining what was previously a painfully laborious process.

Perhaps most impressive of all is the fact that so much has been achieved at a time when the HCA is still very much a work in progress. Rather than using its first year to find its feet and look inwards at staffing levels, management structures, strategic policy etc., the HCA has looked at the housing market and decided it needs to make ‘urgent and decisive action’ its number one priority.

The Tenant Services Authority, meanwhile, has not had such a warm welcome.
Despite the fluffy pink van, the Peter Marsh meet-and-greet roadshow and the positive feedback from tenants about the National Conversation, there is little doubt that many working in the social housing sector are wary of the aims and objectives of the new regulator.

In particular, they are worried that the TSA has not been set up in the interests of RSLs and that tenants will become empowered to such an extent that one simple phone call to the Authority could lead to a full scale investigation into the services provided by a housing association or ALMO.

From my point of view, this is exactly how the TSA should be regarded. It is there to serve the interests of tenants by making sure their landlord is delivering the best possible services to residents and if the TSA’s presence ensures people up their game, then surely that has to be a good thing.

Peter Marsh has also come under attack from National Housing Federation chief David Orr for ‘inappropriate interference’ in housing association pay. But when you look at the remit of the TSA, interfere is exactly what it’s there to do.

Mr Orr does have a point when he says that the Authority should look at its own salary structure before calling on HAs to exercise pay restraint, but the point is that the TSA has every right to question housing association salaries, especially at a time when the financial viability of RSLs is so high profile and salaries across the public and not-for-profits sectors are under so much scrutiny.

If anyone needs reassurance about the motives of the TSA, one only has to look at its ‘Global Accounts of Housing Associations’ report to realise that the Authority is totally committed to the work of HAs, has great faith in their ability to ride out this period of economic turmoil AND deliver the standards expected by the TSA in terms of tenants services.

There is no hidden agenda here and the sooner the sector realises this and works with the Authority, the better for all concerned.