In this fourth part of the Housing Crisis series by Johnathan Headland, and as the cyclical ebb and flow of private sector housing delivery continues in the wake of wider economic and political factors, he asks, could an emboldened affordable housing sector rescue meaningful new housing delivery?

The Business of solving a housing crisis

Aside from the post-2020 White Paper stagnation in Local Plan preparation, we have seen across the country, various remedies to fix this over and above setting a policy narrative (or Housing Minister) and sticking with it – there has been less focus on enhanced delivery of the affordable housing sector.

The decline in meaningful affordable housing provision goes hand in glove with the development of the housing crisis. An over-reliance on the private sector to deliver the homes the country needs has failed. Indeed, the only time, long-term meaningful provision of new homes was achieved was in the last period of mainstay ‘Council’ House building from the 1950s through the mid-1970s, largely due to the impact the public sector can have on the delivery of new homes and public perception of that delivery.

Following the introduction of Right to Buy in 1980 erosion of existing housing stock, coupled with burgeoning cost demands on retrofit and management of existing properties led to the eventual demise of mainstay local authority ownership of affordable housing in the 1990’s. In the years since we have seen the emergence of local into regional Housing Associations, in the search for wider efficiencies and operational effectiveness have in recent years begun to merge to grow. Recent mergers and acquisitions such as those being completed by Abri and the Sovereign Network Homes deal, allow the emergence of truly regional players, capable of effecting real change, managing stock in an effective way and independently delivering enhanced new affordable homes into the future.

Given the huge deficit in housing delivery and quality compared to our European neighbours, as laid bare in the recent HBF report into UK housing Stock in an International context. A turbocharging of delivery, free of market inflationary side effects, will be required to move the needle on the day-to-day of the Housing Crisis. A call to arms and the wider affordable sector is long overdue and perhaps we are starting to see a glimmer of this positive focus from the precursor announcements of this year’s Labour Party Conference.

Let’s hope the reframing of meaningful, well-planned housing delivery across both private and affordable sectors can help inform and shape the wider debate around a planning system which delivers these outcomes – rather than the current system which seeks to do so in spite of the politicised reality of planning for Housing in the UK today.

Click the following links to read the previous editions in this four-part series – Housing Crisis Part 1: Supply, Demand and Constant Policy Changes, Housing Crisis Part 2: For Every Home Purchased and Additional Opinion (NIMBY) and Housing Crisis Part 3: What Housing Crisis?

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