'Millions' wasted on poor HNA's
The Government initiated the field of housing needs assessment (HNA) in 1991, by making it necessary to demonstrate housing need as a condition of seeking affordable housing from developers. It was not until 2000 that any Guidance was provided on what a HNA should contain, and even in 2005 there is still no procedure for checking that consultants do a proper job.
Eventually, at the suggestion of Government Office South East, Fordham Research began attending Local Plan/UDP Inquiries to object in detail to the perceived inadequacies of HNS. This process has begun to produce results. In Redditch on 22nd September 2005 the Council agreed that its David Couttie Associates (DCA) HNA was:
- Not clear, rigorous or realistic
- Did not make clear definitions and assumptions used
- Could not properly be used as the basis for local plan (affordable housing) policy
This DCA report had only just been completed, and was the latest technology of this brand of HNA. All its predecessors are in fact even less robust, since the Redditch one did respond to a number of criticisms made of previous surveys, and removed some of the errors. However it was admitted to be far short of what is required.
A copy of the letter from Redditch Council admitting that the housing needs assessment carried out by DCA was wholly inadequate can be found here (158Kb pdf).