To build 1.5 million of the right homes, we desperately need planning reform
3 min read
The government’s plan to deliver 1.5 million homes in this Parliament is one of its boldest goals, but also one of its most transformative.
After decades of undersupply, our housing services are stretched well beyond reasonable expectations, and over 160,000 children are residing in temporary accommodation.
Delivering these homes will make our housing stock more affordable, higher quality, and less overcrowded, undoing generations of managed decline. But in order for this goal to deliver the most change to our broken housing system, it must also be laser focused.
This week, I chaired a roundtable in the City of London organised by Centrepoint, bringing together organisations working across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to end homelessness and to support those experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping into stable, long-term tenures. Among the many initiatives being championed at the roundtable were a range of intermediate ‘Stepping Stone’ accommodation offers.
These homes are designed specifically for young people leaving temporary accommodation, allowing them to live in independent units with washing and cooking facilities, capped at a third of their income.
Despite the fact that these homes are fulfilling a clear social purpose, the barriers to delivering them are familiar. Securing planning permission remains difficult, particularly for SMEs and not-for-profits who lack the resources of larger developers. Funding applications are challenging for new organisations applying to national bodies like Homes England. And an increasing percentage of young people are failing affordability checks to even afford significantly reduced social rents after reductions to the Local Housing Allowance under the Coalition government.
These barriers are not unique to Stepping Stone accommodation. Those opposed to housebuilding often argue that reforming our antiquated planning system as a boon to big developers building large identikit estates. But it is the homes that we need the most – social housing, later living residences, and homes from SME builders or community-led housing – which suffer the most from the barriers in our planning system.
A ‘major planning application’, for sites as small as ten homes, can require as many as 42 supporting documents. So why would a developer not maximise their economy of scale and build 10,000 homes in one go? Grant funding is highly competitive, so why would public bodies take a risk on a new provider? And with the same economies of scale in housing as in any part of the market, what incentive is there other than to build the largest number, the simplest and most profitable of homes?
We need to deliver 1.5 million homes in this Parliament, and in every Parliament after that. And a key part of delivering that policy has to include maximising the social impact of those homes.
Last year, 2,197 people experienced rough sleeping in the City of Westminster, and the council had to spend £90 million on temporary accommodation, while private rents reached £3,277 and average house prices climbed £921,000 this year.
Everyone, regardless of what part of the system they’re in, is suffering from our housing crisis, and we need solutions which deliver for all of them, easing the market pressure for those looking to get onto the housing ladder, facilitating older people to downsize to free up family-sized homes, and providing social homes and stepping stone accommodation for those facing the greatest housing need.
By reforming planning, incentivising diverse methods of delivery, and facilitating funding to innovative models, the government can ensure that our housing solutions are more than a blunt hammer, and maximise the impact of their boldest and most transformative goal of 1.5 million homes.
Rachel Blake MP is London Mission Delivery Champion
