Social housing providers braced for cash crisis

Housing associations are preparing for a funding crisis that will result in a shortfall of newly built social homes from next year. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has warned of the risk that the needs of the poorest will not be met from 2011 as public money dries up, leaving housing associations less able to finance the social rented sector. The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) said that it expected the number of homes built by housing associations to fall from 50,000 a year last year to 40,000 a year after 2011. Even at current funding levels, housing associations — the main providers of UK social housing — said that, to stay afloat, they had been forced to switch away from provision of social rented homes and towards more lucrative home ownership schemes geared towards renters on higher incomes.