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February 2017
Not since the immediate post war period has there been such emphasis on the importance of housing as a political, social and economic issue, both in terms of its widely accepted undersupply and its affordability. It is within this context that the long awaited Housing White Paper was today published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The content had been hotly anticipated, with strong suggestion that a change of tone from previous Conservative policies geared unanimously towards home ownership might feature. Significant delay to the release of the document, right up to the last minute, had only served to heighten speculation.
As an urban designer and a non-executive director of a housing association, I was keen to see recognition and clear, practical actions associated with the following key issues:
The white paper is clearly and rightfully, a long term plan, from ‘planning for the right homes in the right places’ which covers changes to the planning system and identification of strategic development opportunities right through to ‘helping people now’ which deals with ideas such as the continuation of the Help to Buy and Starter Homes initiative and measures to deal with the visible face of the housing crisis: preventing homelessness. As such, it is a lengthy read. I have selected a few stand out aspects below.
Firstly, I am encouraged to finally see some acknowledgment that home ownership is not the panacea to the housing crisis that it has been characterised as until now by the Conservative government. The reality is that more diversity in all aspects of the market from tenure to type is needed to solve this problem. Greater support for small and medium size builders and supporting build to rent schemes with protected tenancies are both positive measures proposed by the white paper to help address this.
Also encouragingly, the vital role of housing associations is set out, and measures including greater independence via the much touted segregation of the Social Housing Regulator from the Homes and Communities Agency and setting a rent policy which will allow associations and local authorities to borrow again future rental earnings have been identified for exploration to promote increased development. The Homes and Communities Agency meanwhile is to be relaunched as Homes England, with a remit ‘To make a home within reach for everyone’. These measures have the potential to have enormous ramifications for the social housing and public sector housing sectors in the future, but as yet the full details are not clear.
In my non-executive capacity at Trident Social Investment Group, I met Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell as he visited the LoCal Homes off site manufactory in Walsall, owned and operated by the Accord Group last year. The LoCal factory is an exemplar of a practical solution to the housing crisis: a pristine working environment, where homes capable of meeting Code for Sustainable Homes level 6 can be produced by a manufacturer that works to social enterprise principles, making traditional and closed panel, timber-frame systems that deliver cost, time and quality certainty. We need more of this. Much more.
Encouragingly, the £3bn made available to the Home Building Fund together with the Accelerated Construction Programme has the potential to help other initiatives like LoCal off the ground, which promote new technology in construction and drive housing delivery in a way that does not compound the existing construction industry skills shortage which is a major barrier to the timely delivery of traditional construction housing at present.
On planning, the white paper’s suggestion of a universal means of establishing housing need could clearly be beneficial, providing objectivity and saving unnecessary wasted time and money. The white paper suggests that a consultation on the approach will be published at the ‘earliest opportunity this year’ with the methodology in place by April 2018. Given the unwieldy nature of the subject, let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same delays as the white paper.
On a personal note, it was encouraging to see Bicester’s Garden Town masterplan cited as a case study, as the Node team is currently working on the project, which looks holistically at how new homes can be integrated successfully into the life of a town through improved infrastructure, innovative use of green space and a vastly improved town centre. In doing this, Cherwell District Council has demonstrated how to meet the housing crisis with positivity and strategic thinking. It will be interesting to see which local authorities may follow suit – or choose to take advantage of the New Town Development Corporation opportunity reintroduced by the white paper, at a time when prevailing attitudes towards the success of new towns such as Milton Keynes and Telford have subtly shifted in their favour.
On design, the white paper describes encouraging greater community involvement in the ‘design expectations’ of development in their area, including establishing design codes to set a visual framework for guiding development and making fair and transparent decisions on applications. Building for Life is cited as a widely accepted design standard which could be used to shape design principles for a scheme: a sensible approach that Node already regularly uses on residential schemes. It is something of a relief to see that design quality hasn’t been completely forgotten in the rush to build houses. It is also heartening to see support of development at higher densities in the right locations within urban centres, making efficient use of land near transportation hubs, jobs and services.
So will the white paper achieve its aims? Anyone involved in housing knows that changes to policy making, like the suggested amendments to local plan production and the frequency with which they are revisited, together with achieving community consensus on the type of development they wish to see in their local area, don’t happen overnight.
In the meantime, will ideas like increasing fees payable to planning departments and introducing fees for appeals really serve to encourage smaller developers and increase housing supply? It is hard to see a link. Will the relaxation of employment land protection (if unused for a period of five years or more) for the creation of starter homes help their supply? Perhaps. But employment land is also at a premium: and more residents mean more jobs will also be needed. The dogmatic defence of the green belt in all but the most exceptional circumstances is clearly a missed opportunity in promoting the pump priming of housing supply that is desperately needed.
It is undoubtedly positive that there is growing recognition that housing is not an isolated issue and that the availability of a safe and healthy place to live has ramifications for every aspect of a person’s life. Declining budgets for health and social care and the resultant visible rising homelessness in the UK’s towns and cities have brought these issues to the fore over the last few years. Preventative measures to address homelessness like the Homelessness Reduction Bill and in the meantime, increasing the Rough Sleeping Fund are urgently needed, but in truth, only form part of the equation.
So, in summary: a mixed bag of challenging, long-term ideas with as yet, no solid delivery plan; some short term fixes and something of a vacuum in between.
If we are to truly meet this challenge head on – and become a benchmark for creating strong, resilient and happy communities, as we absolutely should aspire to, the following issues urgently require addressing:
