Solving the social and affordable housing crisis

Why are all attempts to resolve the housing crisis failing? 

We need to allow national/volume housebuilders to focus on the private/open market sector. They don't want to build 'affordable' or social homes. Their model is the antithesis of what is required to deliver needs-based, sustainable housing at pace. So step one is to decouple the affordable/social housing sector from the mainstream housing market. 

Next. We must look at the occupants and their requirements very differently. The social/public housing sector is disproportionately exposed to a diverse range of housing needs. From single parents to multi-generational families, those with disabilities or supported living needs, care leavers, ex-offenders, later living/downsizers, asylum seekers and refugees, key workers and even convalescence and step-down care to free hospital beds .... these occupants' requirements do not always fit into the generic one, two,  three or four bed designs that we have been conditioned into thinking are how housing should be designed and delivered. 

Great British Homes is echoing Great British Energy in recognising we need a fundamental shift in delivering critical infrastructure and democratising access with radically different design and delivery models. 

At present when social landlords acquire market homes they have to spend vast sums, not just on snagging and defects, but adaptation that could have been designed-in. Let's get rid of this waste with inherently better quality design and delivery ... with homes that are easily adaptable and with universal design to meet a variety of complex needs. This will also save millions in easier asset management. Building to standards beyond Future Homes will mean future-proofing and no need to retrofit. Invest to save means moving away from the flawed and counterproductive lowest cost per square meter model, to genuinely understanding the 'value' in healthy, lowest running cost and needs-based, truly adaptable/flexible homes. 

Devolution provides a unique opportunity to identify public land that can be allocated for public good. Remember public bodies are merely the custodians of public land - but so often behave as if it is 'their land' not their communities'! 

This is not about selling the proverbial family silver to reduce local authority debt ... but a genuine investment in the right homes in the right places by unlocking land in plain sight. By not using profit-driven developers, genuinely high quality, sustainable and appropriate homes can be delivered without land cost or developer profit. So the value goes into quality, resilient and appropriate buildings not the extraneous costs of the current development model. 

One case study, modelled by KPMG, showed emergency and temporary accommodation costs for a city authority could be reduced by £46 million over 10 years by utilising a lease-back model. We simply have to redefine housing need and delivery before multiple local authorities are bankrupted by the housing emergency. 

Great British Homes must be retained in a social wrapper (no right to buy) and can be funded by a variety of mechanisms including affordable homes grant and social finance fund, local authority pensions, community bonds, ESG investment, lease or lease purchase, transfer and acquisition by registered providers, local authority debt finance, carbon and social value trading and much more. Money is not the issue - disrupting the current broken model is!

There are some simple policy levers that will ensure this happens at pace:

• Planning - presumption in favour based on agreed patternbooks and specifications.
• Land allocation - ensuring local authorities, NHS and all other public land custodians feel confident that allocating land to offset other debt creating and negative social impacts is supported by government.
• Investment - supporting investment models from local authority and other public pensions to invest in social housing.
• No right to buy for homes built on public land
• Where larger developments are feasible, ensure local energy options are evaluated and supported.  
• Government will need to create a new mechanism for large housebuilders, from cash, land, infrastructure  or other contributions to replace the current affordable homes requirement. 

Delivering the deepest social and economic returns whilst resolving the housing crisis.

This can be achieved by hardwiring skills and local jobs with local housing delivery. This is especially important as the billions being invested in reversing the housing crisis must also recognise the skills crisis. High quality new homes can and must be delivered with a new mindset that ensures we recognise the diversity of roles required to deliver high quality homes, beyond traditional construction skills. This includes project management, procurement, resident research and liaison, interior design ... great homes aren't just about brickies, sparks and chippies! Let's activate great careers in housing and work to diversify how we recruit, train and retain.

Modern methods of construction (MMC), especially with highly sustainable and flexible panelised systems, can create opportunities for women, disabled people, racial minorities and other underrepresented groups especially with needs-led learning and positioning a wider range of roles to create greater appeal. Jobs for prospective tenants of the homes being delivered by communities for communities should be a core target. This model also lends itself to smaller work packages, with clear design codes, being available to local microbusinesses and SMEs with much-needed and targeted upskilling and quality control, which will benefit all trades in our communities. 

By looking holistically at needs-based design, needs-led learning, creative financial models, incorporating net zero neighbourhoods and future-proofing all aspects of great homes and communities - we can deliver a radical and disruptive model that will answer every challenge. 

Yes, this is ambitious and audacious - but we cannot achieve the outcomes required by tweaking broken systems and inadequate methodologies. 

Many of us in the housing sector have presented at conferences, written papers and lobbied for decades ... but mostly the sector has been focused on the issues and looking to Government to provide answers. 

Great British Homes is the culmination of all of those papers to provide a playbook and roadmap to achieve optimum value and deliver the quality, quantity and appropriate housing we desperately need to reverse the poly-crisis that has plagued UK housing.  

Each devolved region can adapt the approach but should assign a strategic regional lead who understands housing, skills, funding and communities and can drive the model forwards.

Sarah Daly

Strategic Partnerships & Sustainable Communities