The most significant step we have taken to improve the quality of social housing has been the introduction of the decent homes standard in 2001.
This led to the requirement, set out in the Deputy Prime Minister's Sustainable Communities Plan 2003, for all local housing authorities with council stock to undertake and complete stock options appraisal to identify investment options in order to meet the decent homes standard for all council housing by 2010.
These options included large scale voluntary stock transfer, arms length management organisations, and the private finance initiative, all with the potential for additional Government funding. In the West Midlands, three local authorities formed arms length management organisations (Sandwell, Solihull and Wolverhampton). Collectively they received allocations from CLG during 2007-08 of over £104 million, with over £340 million additional proposed for the period 2008 to 2011.
In April 2003 there were 137,698 non-decent council homes in the West Midlands making up just over 55 per cent. of the total council stock. Provisional figures as of April 2007 show that this figure has almost halved to 69,401 (-68,297), representing just 32 per cent. of the council housing stock. This is a clear demonstration that this policy is improving the quality of social housing in the region.
The decent homes target also applies to the social housing in the ownership of registered social landlords (RSLs). Here data available from the Housing Corporation for 2007, shows the number of non-decent dwellings owned by RSLs in the West Midlands to be 22,056, 9.46 per cent. of the regional RSL stock. RSLs are working effectively to achieve 100 per cent. decency without recourse to Government funding through the delivery of asset management strategies funded by rents and private finance.
In addition to renovations to properties in this sector, funding for the Affordable Housing programme, administered by the Housing Corporation, has resulted in an allocation to the West Midlands of £377 million over the period 2004-05 to 2007-08, to subsidise delivery of new high quality social housing, over 8,600 new affordable homes for rent and low cost sale through registered social landlords. We are now close to concluding the 2008 to 2011 allocations which will make available an additional £467 million through this programme, generating an additional 7,000 new social rented sector homes and 3,600 low cost homes.