Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

Government, in early 2010 the number of staff working in the housing area
in local government was just under 4,000, accounting for some 12% of all
local authority staff.
10.1.5 Recent years have seen a major reorientation in social housing policy. In
particular a greater emphasis is being placed on sourcing social housing
units from the private sector, through schemes such as the Rental
Accommodation Scheme and the more recent Social Housing Leasing
Initiative, as opposed to the traditional source of supply via construction and
acquisition of dwellings. It is expected that in 2010 over 50% of new social
housing supply will come from these two sources.
10.1.6 In the context of this reorientation in housing policy and the provision of
social housing (namely away from housing construction and acquisition, and
towards sourcing social housing from the private sector through options
such as RAS and leasing), the Group considers that there is a need for
housing sections within local authorities to be reconfigured. In particular,
this should involve a reassignment of staff, with a greater focus on
management issues arising from a greater use of leased properties, the
regulation of the social housing market and increased use of shared
services at county and regional level. An implication of this change in
emphasis in the delivery of social housing could be a reduced need for
technical and professional staff assigned to housing sections for the
purposes of construction projects. Issues of redeployment of staff to other
duties arise here, where the staff concerned would have a number of
important transferable skills, for example in areas such as procurement,
property surveys and assessment of leasing submissions.
10.1.7 The policy of moving towards leasing as a key mechanism for the provision
of social housing has led, and will lead, to more frequent requirements to
inspect proposed dwellings for a number of different purposes (such as
private rented regulations, structural surveys, fire and safety inspections,
etc). At present these inspections for different purposes are often carried
out by separate local authority officials. The Group is proposing that the
establishment of a single Building Inspectorate, perhaps operating at either
county/city level or at a regional level, could lead to savings and efficiencies
in this process – further details in this respect are included in section 8.5.
10.1.8 Service indicator data for 2008 and previous years show considerable
variation between local authorities in the time taken to re-let vacant housing.
While direct comparisons with other jurisdictions have their limitations,
available data also suggests that vacancies are higher in Ireland than in
England, Scotland or Northern Ireland. While the Group understands that
there can be multiple reasons for vacancies, including refusals of offers from
applicants, difficulties in letting properties in areas of low demand and
budgetary restrictions on renovations or refurbishments, the Group
considers that further efforts could be made to reduce the time taken to let
and re-let social housing properties to improve supply and reduce costs,
and encourage a more efficient use of housing stock.
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