Better HCA Bids Webinar
A webinar on how to make the best possible bids for funding from the HCA and
how better information about your existing homes can help underpin this.
Martin Hilditch
Inside Housing
CHAIR
Fiona MacGregor
HCA
WELCOME
The webinar will begin at 11am
Carole Oliver
Landmark
Organised by:
Phil Stephens
Sovereign
Sponsored by:
Opening remarks from the Chair
Martin Hilditch,
Acting Editor, Inside Housing
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
Fiona MacGregor
Head of Affordable Housing
Homes and Communities Agency
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
Successful places
with homes and jobs
A NATIONAL
AGENCY
WORKING
LOCALLY
Better HCA bids
Inside Housing webinar: 11 April
2014
Fiona MacGregor: Affordable
Housing, HCA
2015-18 Affordable Homes Programme
– funding and timetable
 £2.9bn funding for affordable
housing 2015-18
 Confirmation of rents beyond 2015:
10 years - CPI + 1%
 HCA Prospectus published 27
January 2014
 Bids due 30 April 2014 (funding
outside London - £1.7bn – no preset split of funding across areas)
 Assessment & moderation of bids
early May to end June
 Funding decisions anticipated in
July 2014
Recent update
Updates:
 Design & quality – 13 March
written Ministerial Statement on
Housing Standards Review
 Most review proposals will
become part of building
regulations – energy; water;
accessibility
 Nationally described space
standard (not building regulations)
 AHP prospectus addendum
published on 27 March 2014
Key points
 New homes meet local needs
(including one and two beds)
 Active asset management
strategies – make use of
flexibilities
 Government preference for
refurbishment over demolition
 Efficient procurement and
construction innovation
encouraged
Allocation approach
 Up to 75% allocated via initial bid
round, balance via further market
engagement
 Two routes for delivery:
1. Mixed (indicative and firm
schemes) – based on proven
delivery performance
2. Firm scheme only route
 Recognises how development
opportunities arise and that
some will need longer to work up
firm scheme proposals
Changes to the new programme
(learning from current programme)
 Clearer milestones on delivery of indicative schemes –
mitigate impact of end date; opportunities to re-allocate
slippage.
 Earlier confirmation of allocations – make use of longer lead
in time for new programme
 Remove average payment rate - remove complexity wherever
possible and facilitate partnership working
What to bid for
 Bids can include:
– Hostel accommodation
– Traveller pitches
– Former empty properties brought
back into use as affordable
housing
 RPs, LAs, housebuilders can bid –
partnership working strongly
encouraged (access capacity)
 Supported, elderly and rural
housing encouraged
Funding model (active asset
management and flexibilities)
 Sources of cost contribution:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Borrowing against new Affordable Rent, conversions
Disposals (asset management)
Use of Recycled Capital Grant Fund & Disposal Proceeds Fund
Cross subsidy (eg from market sale)
Free or discounted land
Access to guarantees
Grant (no pre-set grant rate)
 ‘Something for something’: flexible (and efficient) use of assets
– disposals and conversions (social rent to affordable rent or
shared ownership)
Bid success
 Assessment against:
– Fit with local need
– Value for money (50%) –
comparators across bids and
current programme
– Deliverability (50%)
– Meet the regulator’s viability and
governance standard
 HCA will verify fit with local
authorities
 Programme building: schemes
ranked based on value for money
and deliverability; ranked bids
reviewed to identify gaps
Carole Oliver
Group Business Development Manager
Landmark
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
CRITICAL BUSINESS & ASSET
INTELLIGENCE FOR HOUSING
PROVIDERS
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE – THE CHALLENGES
 Is your organisation benefiting from robust intelligence to inform risk, investment,
development & bid strategies?

-
Can you demonstrate with confidence evidence of;
What you own
It’s value & risk
Appropriate tenures & maximum asset performance?
 If the proposed white paper for an ‘Asset Register’ is passed how disruptive would it be
to your organisation to become ‘register-ready’?
 Does your organisation have a myriad of systems working from different data sets, and
or duplicating results?
 Have you inherited a legacy of reliance on expensive external consultancy services?
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THE DEVIL IN THE DETAIL…
With the ever-changing challenges and financial risks (and now opportunities!) facing the
Housing Sector it has never been more critical to inform business decisions and improvement
strategies with robust data, and be able to identify areas of risk instantly.
The majority of RP’s have inherited inconsistent & disparate data sets & systems which result in
frustrating barriers for those aspiring to achieve success through efficient & accurate working
practices.
Our expertise in being able to quickly and accurately analyse data and return it with transparency
and highly visual direction is proving an essential element in RP’s decision making process.
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THE GOOD NEWS!
RP’s can benefit from using straight forward analysis & intelligence solutions for minimum
investment & operational disruption;
 Back to basics - data cleansing & verification
 Your systems can only be optimised when using accurate & robust data
 Better intelligence = reduced risk & better financial performance
 Informed tender submissions & investment = likelihood more successful
 Exploit an advantaged position for re-financing & investment
 Demonstrate long term strategy based on robust & accurate business intelligence
 Informed decisions = successful outcomes
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EXAMPLE – FAMILY MOSAIC
“With over 24,000 properties in our portfolio, it is vital that the information
within our property database is accurate on a number of levels.
Our immediate need was to ensure all addresses in our database match the
format of Royal Mail’s, however since working with Landmark, we have
been able to analyse a wider range of metrics, such as bedroom count. This is
particularly important as this information needs to be accurate for the benefit of
our tenants.”
As well as data cleansing, address matching and geo-coding of assets Landmark
have also provided Family Mosaic with HMLR clarity – such as the identification
of titles, charges, proprietor, lease/head lease including all past FM trading
names.
We also instantly identified a number of potential sublet / tenancy frauds for
investigation.
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INSTANT RESIDENTIAL MARKET ANALYSIS
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CRITICAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE CAPTURED
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INFORMED DECISION MAKING – BEST USE OF
ASSETS / TENURE
 Current OM Sales Value: £489,600
 1999 Sales Value: £149,680
 Current OM Rental Value: £1,780
 1999 Target Rent Value: £420
 Target Rent Value Today: £614
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OPTIMISING THE LATEST, MOST ACCURATE
INTELLIGENCE TO INFORM INVESTMENT STRATEGY
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WHAT ARE YOUR LOCAL MARKET DYNAMICS?
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MULTI-ORGANISATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MAPPED
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EXAMPLE - AFFINITY SUTTON
Affinity Sutton has invested in GIS to make best use of it’s business intelligence
but required data cleansing & geo-coding to effectively do so which Landmark did
in just a few days.
“Affinity Sutton is a location-based business and the GIS visualisation of our asset
and tenant information is a critical component of our Business Intelligence suite.
The ability to visualise our information down to door-level accuracy gives our
Asset and Housing staff a picture of their properties and patches that a
spreadsheet could not convey.
Whether we are mapping repairs performance, long-term voids or other
information, the visualised data gives us the ability to better understand
clustered issues and begin to develop improvement strategies.”
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EXAMPLE OF OWNERSHIP ON A SIMPLE MAPPING
PLATFORM
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CONTACT
Carole Oliver
Group Business Development Manager
T: +443300366275
M: 07584206324
E: carole.oliver@landmark.co.uk
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Phil Stephens
Development and Commercial Director
Sovereign
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
Better HCA Bids
Phil Stephens
Development &
September 2012
Commercial
Director
AHP 2015-18:
The good news
• Less complicated –
especially for
Consortium
• Project based – stand
alone assessment
• No blending of rates or
cash flowing from nil
grant S106 schemes
• Clear payment
structure
• Focus on VFM &
deliverability
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
AHP 2015-18:
The challenges
• Housing Standards
Review
• The continuing impact
of Welfare Reform
• Capturing the “value of
Asset Management
• Affordable rent
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
Other challenges for
developing a bid
• Little or no LA or public sector land
• HAs have not been “land banking”
at scale
• Delivery of regeneration projects
constrained by grant levels
– but values now picking up
• The basis of our bid will come from
own assets
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
Active Asset Management
• Developed robust model
to understand the NPV of
all our assets
• Set clear target on worst
performing sites
• Re-planning of older
persons’ “sheltered” into
new housing
– Challenges for the
Demolition v Rebuild
preference
• Central to our strategy
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
Asset Management in Action
• Swapped, acquired or sold
3,229 homes in two years
• Disposed of some quirky
assets – Air raid shelter!
• Modest open market sale
programme on good quality
sites
• Maximised revenues from
commercial property
• Created “Asset Management”
subsidy in Business Plan
• Utilised RCGF for further
shared ownership only
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
Our questions
• What impact will
Affordable Rent have on
our long-term income
and our ability to collect
rents?
• Can conversions work
everywhere?
• Do our sites meet the
criteria?
• What other
opportunities are
available?
Creating homes, shaping communities, changing lives
Thank you
QUESTIONS &
ANSWERS
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
Closing remarks from the Chair
Martin Hilditch,
Acting Editor, Inside Housing
Organised by:
Sponsored by:
THANK YOU
The webinar is now closed
Organised by:
Sponsored by: