Kate Barker is to join the board of the Housing Corporation. Commenting on her new appointment she said: "This gives me the opportunity to think through the role of affordable housing in helping the supply problem. A lot of my final report turned out to be about market housing, this gives me an opportunity to look at an area that was not fully explored." In an interim report published in 2003, Barker found that housing associations were failing to borrow against 130,000 homes, because so much stock in the sector was owned by small landlords. She said: "I'm interested in following up those thoughts. Efficiency is always important, but I'm not starting off with some great assumption that there are huge efficiencies to be made from housing associations. It's a mistake to go on to a board with preconceived ideas." Barker has also defended recommendations she had made in her 2004 report into housing supply against claims they will damage the environment. "I thought the ODPM went to enormous lengths to ensure that the changes did not have ill effects on the environment. Some of the concern about the changes to the planning system, I find genuinely puzzling. But this …