Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

6
Recommendations for public investment
Possibly attracting most attention within the RHS is the set of proposals for public expenditure on
housing. In setting an approach to this, it adopts both long- and short-term perspectives.
In the longer term, the RHS seeks to establish a broad direction, taking a balanced view between
competing themes for public investment, complementing the other policies aiming at change in
the existing stock and achieving the step-change in new affordable housing provision. In the short
term, it takes a pragmatic view with regard to the scope for investment in the next two
programmes for investment from the Single Regional Housing Pot (2006–08 and 2008–10).
Making best use of the available resources, a step-change in the quantity and quality of new
housing, and ensuring progress in meeting the Decent Homes target, are clear objectives.
The RHS seeks to ensure that sufficient investment is provided to make significant progress
towards achieving Decent Homes. Fortunately, this is expected to require a relatively small part of
the public resources available. For the remainder, the RHS sets target shares of funding for the
various investment themes. Both the nature of the themes and their relative shares have been
established on the basis of thorough consultation among stakeholders across the Region.
Indicative share of single
regional housing pot
Investment theme to 2010 (%) from 2010 (%)
Growth 20 25
Local need / homelessness 20 20
Regeneration 10 10
Rural 10 10
Key Workers 14 5
Supported housing 8 15
Existing stock 15 10
Black and Minority Ethnic 3 5
Total 100 100
Implementation, managing and monitoring the RHS
The RHS sets out a series of proposals to ensure that it will be implemented, and retain its
relevance for the various stakeholders in the Region. It outlines a framework for management of
delivery, and for the monitoring and review of the RHS itself. Finally, it lists a series of concrete
actions which represent key elements in the RHS’s implementation. The most urgent of these
actions is for stakeholders to work with EERA, once the new governance arrangements have been
confirmed, to prioritise and schedule the actions, attribute responsibilities, and set targets for
delivery, encompassing all in a comprehensive Action Plan.