Post: 10 July 2016
Last year the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) collected property-level data on all social housing stock owned by councils in England as of March 2015. More than 160 councils were paid up to £5,000 each to produce the data.
The existence of this Local Authority Housing Assets dataset was highlighted in information deposited in the House of Commons Library last week following a written question from John Healey MP. The information released by DCLG includes the data collection guidance, the data template, the grant determination, and a letter to housing officers.
According to the guidance and template, the dataset includes the following for each housing property:
DCLG has collected this data to “inform development” of the Sale of High Value Assets policy, a government plan to force councils to sell off their low rent homes in the most high value areas. Councils will be charged a levy based on their forecast higher-value empty stock, as provided for in the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Government policy on social housing, and empty homes in particular, is a matter of considerable public interest. Property-level housing information also has multiple uses and potential value in economic and social analysis.
Why then has DCLG not released the Local Authority Housing Assets dataset to the public for re-use as open data?
Collection of the data has been funded by the taxpayer. The dataset does not contain any personal or commercially sensitive information. A similar dataset, the National Register of Social Housing, was released as open data in 2013. (NROSH was discontinued in 2011.)
DCLG has recently consulted on an update to the Local Government Transparency Code that will require councils to publish some open data on housing stock. However that information will be less detailed and useful.
The Local Authority Housing Assets dataset is a public asset and DCLG should release it as open data as soon as possible, in the interests both of transparency and the efficient use of resources.
Image credit: Hackney London September 29 2015 087 Social Housing by David Holt (CC BY 2.0)