Agency says it will continue to operate fully despite decision to close offices in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic
The government’s housing quango has sent staff home in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it announced late on Tuesday.
Homes England, which administers Help to Buy, the National Affordable Housing Programme and the Housing Infrastructure Fund among other funding pots, said it would continue its work remotely.
“Following guidance from the prime minister to avoid non-essential travel, from today we will work remotely as an organisation with staff working from home until further notice,” a statement said.
“As part of business continuity protocols, we have been thoroughly testing our technology and are confident we can continue to operate fully.”
It said it had also withdrawn from upcoming conferences and other business engagements. It added: “The most important contribution we can make is to continue working with our partners to complete transactions and continue building the pipeline to support housebuilding.”
The statement came as the government’s social housing regulator, the RSH, announced it had paused its programme of in-depth assessments (IDAs) of registered housing providers in the light of the need to tackle the spread of coronavirus.
It said in a statement that “for the time being we are not starting any new IDAs. For those IDAs that are underway we are in contact with providers to either complete the IDA online or to defer. We will keep the position under review.”
The developments follow the announcement on Monday of draconian “social distancing” measures in order to limit the spread of the virus.
These include advising people to stop all non-essential travel and meetings, and requiring those with symptoms of the virus to self-isolate with their families for 14 days.
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