Professor Michelle Norris:

The approved housing body sector is really vital in that reach. It plays an absolutely vital role, particularly in providing supported housing that is not provided by any other sector and it has a very important role in providing so-called general need social housing, that is, standard family housing. The approved housing body sector has been very successful in radically increasing its output in recent years. The challenge is not really there but with the local authority sector. I was a member of the Housing Commission and that is something we looked at. We suggested there needed to be reform to the local authority sector to allow it set up shared organisations, which we called local authority housing organisations, which would run housing services on behalf of a couple of local authorities. There is quite a capacity problem in the local authority sector. They have managed to increase output significantly, but the problem is the output is not always occurring where it is most critically needed, especially in cities, where delivery is a real challenge. Now the Department has completed its review of the approved housing body sector looking at the local authority sector, including how it is funded, how funding is approved for it and also the structure of delivery, would be a good use of time.