Raiders of the HRA

Inside Housing asked me to illustrate a feature about the latest in a series of raids on housing resources by the UK government, using a familiar scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Since control of HRAs passed to councils from Whitehall in 2012, council landlords have become accustomed to raids on their housing resources and are now using Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) to fill big gaps in back office budgets. Whilst this is helping them cope with wider austerity cuts, resources for fixing up existing homes, building new ones and supporting tenants through financial hardships are diminishing, slice by slice.