Soaring procurement costs and the shift of resources from the North to high-cost South are keeping the number of new affordable homes produced static at about 22 000, despite a 36% rise in Government funding.
The average Housing Corporation funded home will cost £93 460 in 2001/02, up 18% on 2000/01. In London and the South, HAs report £140 000 unit cost is not untypical. Announcing the programme, the Corporation says it has warned ministers that further big increases in scheme costs would impact on outputs.
Figures show the Egan target of a 20% reduction in procurement costs is still a long way off. However, 36% of the programme meets other Egan requirements, against this year's target of 30%, at a time when the 'proxies' have been strengthened. The southwards shift shows up in the top ten below: all but one of the HAs are based in London while the other - Home - has a large South East programme through its Warden subsidiary. Elsewhere the bidding programme has revealed a shift away from major regeneration and sustainability. In Yorkshire and Humberside these account for just 27% of programme, while Harrogate gets a bigger programme than either Leeds or Sheffield due to the new rent restructuring regime.
Source
Building Homes
