housing providers have warned the National Asylum Support Service to settle its housing contracts for 2005 now or face delays next year.
The current contracts expire next March and private and public sector housing providers do not know what form the next round of deals will take.

The uncertainty comes despite a 50% drop in asylum applications between the fourth quarter of 2002 and the fourth quarter of 2003.

Safehaven, the only provider led by a housing association, has said it will have to redraw its business plan because of the 50% fall.

The Home Office has privately indicated that the new contracts will only go to regional consortia of councils, which could subcontract (HT 3 October 2003, page 12).

One private sector provider said: "We will have to have different account systems for each region, we will be liable to their contract failures and it could impact on our payments."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are now developing the strategy with a view to it being in place by the summer."

Source

Housing Today