Just a thought, following on from the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning with further news on David Cameron's proposals to reduce the number of "unelected quangos" in government. This made me feel slightly nervous over my cornflakes - could the Homes and Communities Agency be one of the organisations set to get the axe? Rumours of tension between the Tories and the HCA are rife - after all, it's a Labour organisation, that reports to the DCLG, yet the London board has a Tory mayor, and several of the key players are hardly die-hard Labourites. The Conservatives are widely understood to be planning to get rid of the HCA if they are elected, although exactly what they would replace it with is not quite so clear.
After an immense amount of money and time setting up the HCA, with regional boards established and a great deal of work done to help stuggling developers and social housing providers, it seems a shame to abolish it to make a political point. As we have seen with the revolving-door policy towards government housing ministers, not much is constant or long-term in government towards housing. A quango which is not affected by the pursuit of short-term political gain might prove the best ship to steer through these murky times.
Unless the HCA can prove their services as good value for public money, then it has to be abolished. Or just reduce the salary by half and see how much more productive they can become.