Housing Today

Corporation's role outrages Camden.

by Stuart Macdonald

The confidentiality policy that prevented Housing Corporation staff from warning Camden council of West Hampstead Housing Association's imminent financial collapse has been slammed as "unsustainable and indefensible" by the chair of the council's scrutiny panel.

John Rolfe was speaking about a long-awaited report into the corporation's role in the West Hampstead case, commissioned by the quango from consultant Hacas Chapman Hendy and seen by Housing Today.

It concluded that the corporation was more perceptive in finding the problems than were the RSL's managers and auditors.

The council is understood to be drafting a strongly worded response to the report. It is believed to be particularly displeased that the report did not make any recommendations to prevent the situation recurring.

Camden was unaware of financial problems at West Hampstead until it was forced to put together a rescue package to stave off the RSL's insolvency due to the collapse of its private leasing business.

This involved a £300,000 interest-free loan, and additional costs of more than £200,000.

Rolfe said: "This [report] shows that the Housing Corporation's confidentiality protocols are unsustainable and indefensible. If they can't be reviewed by negotiation, something else needs to be done. There are a lot of questions which need to be answered".

The report concluded that, on a number of occasions, corporation staff were put "in a very difficult position" when discussing the association's problems, but made no recommendations for change.

And in February 2000 - six weeks prior to the corporation's decision to freeze development payments to WHHA - its notes about the association described the doomed RSL as just a little "ragged at the edges".

When the corporation froze Approved Development Programme funding, Camden was unaware and continued to provide grants to West Hampstead, it said.

A corporation spokeswoman told Housing Today that it had yet to receive a copy of the scrutiny panel's final report, but that it would shortly issue a "detailed response".

She added that the quango had recently made it clear that local authorities would be told if conditions were put on an ADP allocation.