Future of Housing Workshop
From Future of Local Services to the Public
As part of the greater LGA project four workshops were held with those working in the design and provision of local services to the public. The Future of Housing workshop met in London in August 2008 and discussed the factors that had shaped housing in England to this point in time, those that the participants, as housing experts, are grappling with at the moment, and those that they are thinking about for the future.
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Reflecting on the current context
The workshop participants felt that for a long time housing policy has been reacting to immediate issues as they have emerged, instead of planning for the future, or reflecting on past experience. However, now those in the Housing Field were beginning to question the purpose of social housing and the implications for an array of government agendas "particularly for supporting people into work and the welfare reform agenda". In addition to this the implications of building housing that "does not create greater environmental challenges than at the moment" is at the forefront of decision-making for local and national public servants responsible for social housing.
The question of what Housing is for was discussed by participants in detail, and its role as a public or private good. There was some discussion about the provision of Housing as an unreformed part of the welfare state, although the group was not in complete agreement over this depiction. The group felt that social housing was now, in the main, an option for the vulnerable.
"..supplies have dwindled so much that its now just there for people who have no other options".
The current housing market was also felt to encourage those currently living in houses larger than their needs to remain in thier property rather than move, as the cost of moving to a smaller property was not felt to benefit the owner. This then had a knock on effect for the supply of family housing.
What is the relevance for the future provision of local services
The relationship between British citizens and their homes was also identified as a relevant factor for shaping the future of housing. The role of housing as a financial asset that citizens use as collateral for the future, reinforced by the changes in pension taxes during the 1990's, the influence of the global economy, the deregulation of lending and the inflated boom period has all helped to create the environment in which housing is now acquired.
"There's a huge cultural issue in this country about your property being the asset, your pension, that's where your money's tied up."
Participants were concerned about the future development of housing over the next few years as "it's difficult to see who is going to purchase land". Therefore the big question for participants was what would be the role for local authorities in this market environment, would they increase their capacity as social landlords.
The future of the more recent property was also a key concern, whether the properties currently available would still be standing in 40 years time.
"That's something I'd like to be able to say about housing, that it looks nice, it's good quality and it's not going to fall down, it'll be here for 120 years"
The participants felt that the provision of housing in the future would be influenced by the shape of local infrastructure
"Housing, transport and jobs are inextricably connected and creating places that people can drive to is a challenge, not very sustainable, and we are talking about being remotely enabled"
The future of the current social housing stock across the country was discussed, in light of the changing needs and demands of the population.
"...quite a lot of the specialist accomodation like sheltered housing schemes is built for the needs of the previous generation."
For schemes such as shared ownership to be a success participants felt that local authorities and Housing Associations must have the flexibility to become more creative in their response to housing needs, and become less anxious about the clear distinction between home ownership and social tenancy. At the moment it was felt that shared ownership schemes are just not afforadable in the areas where they would have most benefit, particularly in the current housing climate.
Priorities for the Future
A focus for the future, for some, would be a change in the typical social tenant, so that "I'd walk down the High Street...at lunchtime and not be able to spot my tenants just from the way they dress and the way they look". Dream headlines for the future would be as follows
- Inability to distinguish social tenants from other residents
- 3rd eco-town built
- All have homes of decent quality - moving residents away from subsidised tenancies for life.
Twenty potential issues for the future were presented to the group and the participants were asked to identify which of the issues they felt were relevant for the future of housing. The participants grouped the issues into clusters as shown in the slide below.
The following key identifies the issues that were prepared prior to the group discussion for the participants to work with. In the slide below the clusters to which the group allocated each issue, and therefore those which the group felt should be dealt with togther, are laid out in the colours of the cluster in which they were placed.
The key below identifies the issues that the group identified spontaneusly, again laid out in the cokour of the cluster in which they were placed.
Innovations
The following examples of innovation were identified by the group:
- A project currently underway in the Netherlands for sustainable housing, which could provide some useful examples of environmental standards for Housing that could be useful in the UK .
- Small scale work linking social tenancies and worklessness, as discussed in the following research paper www.housingcorp.gov.uk/upload/pdf/In_brief_-_Tackling_worklessness.pdf
- Building for Life www.buildingforlife.org/
- Changes in physical infrstructure in Bogota and the implications for crime reduction siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTLACCRIVIOPRE/Resources/Final_Bogota_casestudy_ENG.pdf
- Inspirational city planner Phillip Harrison in Johannesburg, for his short presentation talking about the place-shaping potential of urban planning click here: www.youtube.com/watch
