Why we need more locally permissive national housing policy
Author: Jack Airey |
Writing for Inside Housing, research fellow Jack Airey outlines the case for national housing policy to be more locally permissive. You can read the piece in full here or below.
Almost everyone wants a home of their own. Given the choice to rent or buy, 86% of British people would buy. It provides a financial security that we all crave, so it was no wonder David Cameron once talked of fulfilling the “dream of a property-owning democracy”.
Recent signs, however, suggest this dream is on hold. Housing minister Gavin Barwell has pivoted policy towards delivering all types of tenure, and above all to getting more homes built, rather than rigidly focusing on expanding homeownership.
This new direction is welcome, even emollient, particularly with regards to Starter Homes. As has been reported, the government is considering reclassifying Rent to Buy housing as Starter Homes – taking forward a recommendation Localis made in our White Paper published last month.
Rent to Buy, a product established by the government several years ago but with little fanfare or consequence, offers rented housing at an affordable rate with the money saved going towards a deposit. With greater flexibility around local implementation of Starter Homes, local delivery will be more in tune with the needs and demands of local people.
Of course, the policy tweak won’t allay all fears that those on the ground have; as one Conservative council leader recently said to me, the expectation that 200,000 Starter Homes will be built this parliament “defies belief”. Local authorities will still be duty-bound to provide Starter Homes as part of affordable housing obligations, and in many areas the product will remain out of reach of local incomes. But Rent to Buy homes will be comparatively more affordable at the same time as offering the financial headroom to obligatorily save for a deposit and begin the journey to homeownership.
It is now important that greater flexibility does not start and end with Starter Homes. As the government reorients itself towards those who are “just managing” – for whom housing costs are perhaps the most important issue – it must do so by entrusting local authorities to take far more decisions on how and where housing can be delivered in their local area.
Alongside a greater say on tenure, local authorities should be allowed more flexibility in pursuing alternative funding methods for new homes (especially in light of the risks that the Brexit vote has caused). Moreover, local authorities should be devolved powers that incentivise house builders to build out more quickly – or force “big developers [to] release their stranglehold on supply”, as Sajid Javid put it in his conference speech.
Only by affording local authorities greater flexibility around finance, land and local affordability can the prime minister hope to achieve the million new homes she targets by 2020.
None of this is to say we don’t need a strong national strategy on boosting housing supply, just one that is permissive enough to allow local areas to better respond to local need. The government can and should still set political direction, but in a looser framework where local areas can escape and learn from the national policy failures of the past few decades.
With the Autumn Statement and a housing White Paper approaching, and as the government resets the dials on devolution, housing should be front and centre of any forthcoming deals.