07 Nov 2011, 2:06 pm
The development programmes must be completed by March 2015, so housing associations need to move quickly to get the programmes up and running, a senior HCA figure has said.
"People have got to move fairly rapidly. Schemes need to be completed by March 2015 which is not a huge distance away," said Paul Abey, head of strategy programme and performance for the HCA in the South.
Abey said that if providers who have been awarded grants don't start using them to implement a development plan, then the HCA has the sanction of revoking the funding and awarding it to another provider.
Abey acknowledged that the sanction would only be used as a last resort but did warn housing associations of its power to revoke funding in exceptional circumstances.
"It would clearly be the last resort, we don’t want to do it but…we don’t want to be in a situation where we get to November 2014 and there’s a big hole in the programme and [we] start panicking," Abey said.
Although many providers are working to bring forward development plans under the AHP grants, the implementation of the plans are being delayed in some areas of the UK as councils and Housing Associations negotiate "affordable" rent levels.
