ARCH Chief Executive John Bibby reflects on a year which
heralded the dawn of a new generation of council housing and looks
forward to 2019:
"This last 12 months has seen, amongst other things, the
publication of the Hackitt Review and the Social Housing Green
Paper, the scrapping of HRA borrowing caps and Government proposals
for a High Value Asset Levy, announcement of a new Social Rent
Policy, consultation on use of Right to Buy receipts and a decision
not to implement mandatory fixed term tenancies - not to mention
Brexit!
2018 has indeed been an eventful year which heralded the
dawn of the Prime Minister's promise of "a new generation of
council housing". 2019 is likely to prove even more challenging for
the stock retained sector as pressure mounts on councils to ensure
that tenants and residents are indeed at the heart of everything we
do as councils strive to deliver improvements to customer service
& the quality of council housing as well as deliver new council
housing in much greater numbers than has been possible up to
now.
I want to say a huge thanks to members of the ARCH Board and
the ARCH Tenant Group, ARCH member councils, elected members,
tenants and officers for your support during the year, without
which, we would not have been half as influential as we have been
in making the case for council housing in our various meetings with
Government Ministers and officials.
I look forward to continuing to work with you in the coming
year and in the meantime on behalf of everyone at ARCH may I extend
Seasons Greetings and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy
and Peaceful New Year".