Memorandum by the Housing Corporation
(UWP 111)
THE PROPOSED URBAN WHITE PAPER
A. INTRODUCTION
1. The Housing Corporation (the Corporation)
welcomes the opportunity to give evidence to the Committee's inquiry
into the proposed Urban White Paper. The issues that the Committee
is considering are central to the work of Corporation and its
partners. They are key to the achievement of our first strategic
aim—"to revitalise and maintain sustainable housing
and neighbourhoods"—and are linked to work we are doing
not just on urban issues but on rural matters too. We believe
that the Corporation and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) have
a significant contribution to make to addressing many of the challenges
facing our urban areas.
2. This memorandum focuses on the two areas
that the Committee has asked the Corporation to cover:
2.1 the recommendations of the Urban Task
Force and the Urban White Paper; and
2.2 building balanced and sustainable communities—the
problems associated with social ghettos, the need for balanced
communities, how our policies are changing to address problems
associated with large areas of social housing and low demand and
how we propose to promote mixed communities.
3. The Corporation has three key investment
objectives: (i) to provide new affordable housing in areas of
economic and demographic growth, (ii) to contribute to the regeneration
of deprived neighbourhoods and (iii) continuing to fund the provision
of new supported housing. All are equally important. However,
for the purposes of this memorandum we have concentrated on aspects
of our work which relate to the regeneration objective, because
we feel they are of most relevance to this inquiry.
4. The memorandum covers many issues. There
are, however, two key responses that we would like to draw to
the Committee's attention. First, in relation to the Urban Task
Force recommendations, we highlight the potential benefits that
Housing Regeneration Companies could bring to the renewal of areas.
Second, in responding to the changing patterns of demand around
the country, we explain how our new strategic approach to investment,
centred on the production (with regional Government Offices) of
comprehensive Regional Housing Statements, ensures our funding
meets regional and local needs.
5. Background to the Housing Corporation
and Registered Social Landlords is provided in Annex one.
B. URBAN WHITE
PAPER AND
URBAN TASK
FORCE
The Corporation's response to the Urban Task Force
Recommendations.
6. Overall, the Corporation welcomed the thrust
of the Urban Task Force (UTF) report when it was published last
year. We had kept a keen interest in the Task Force's work as
it developed, with our then Chief Executive Anthony Mayer presiding
as Deputy Chair. We agree that all of the four key themes identified
in the report[8]
are essential to urban regeneration and need to be addressed in
the Government's urban policy. However, for the purposes of our
appearance before the Committee, we have concentrated on those
recommendations which are of direct relevance to the Corporation
and Registered Social Landlords.
Delivering urban regeneration
7. First, the Corporation would like to
see a number of the recommendations relating to "Delivering
Urban Regeneration" taken forward. In particular, we believe
that the concepts of Urban Priority Area, Urban Regeneration Companies
and Housing Regeneration Companies have considerable potential
to deliver regeneration programmes more effectively. The designation
of Urban Priority Areas would help to create a focus for both
private and public investment and potentially to lever in additional
resources. If the package of measures that accompanied these designations
included streamlined Town and Country Planning procedures and
speedier compulsory purchase orders it could overcome some of
the key problems facing regeneration programmes. From the Corporation's
perspective such streamlining would assist RSLs with a stake in
housing areas blighted by poor private sector stock (both private
rented and in owner occupation).
8. Rejuvenation measures which cut across
different housing tenures are vital to the success of this policy.
Working within the strategic framework determined by the local
authority, RSLs are becoming more actively involved in delivering
regeneration programmes in mixed tenure areas where they own stock.
The Corporation strongly supports this process and is exploring
ways in which RSLs contribution to regeneration can be further
enhanced.
9. Ensuring that the contributions of different
organisations involved in regeneration programmes are co-ordinated
is also essential to success. Urban Regeneration Companies (URC)
could fulfil this role. Having a delivery vehicle which has direct
responsibility for the implementation of the agreed strategy for
an area could improve and speed up the process considerably.
10. The Corporation also believes that Housing
Regeneration Companies could have a key role in delivering regeneration
within neighbourhoods where housing is the main focus. That is
not to say that the housing issues should be treated separately—there
is a need for the efforts of all agencies to be co-ordinated in
a regeneration programme—but that the housing solutions
could be delivered most effectively and efficiently by organisations
with this particular expertise and focus. The sort of activities
that we envisage such companies carrying out include:
10.2 bricks and mortar activities providing
newbuild housing, rehabilitation of existing properties, buying
and refurbishing poor quality owner occupied and private sector
stock, encouraging and co-ordinating the use of local authority
renovation grants and selective demolition, and
10.2 housing related activities that make
neighbourhoods work such as community enabling (providing local
people with the skills they need to contribute to the management
of their neighbourhood, for example), training and employment.
11. Some existing RSLs could and, to a certain
extent, do already take on this duty now. They have a good track
record of involvement in regeneration, engaging with communities
and working with other sectors, (like education, health and employment)
and within a local authority's strategic plan. The key difference
that Housing Regeneration Companies could make is in taking a
cross-tenure approach covering both poor private sector as well
as public sector stock—something which has not always been
achieved in the past. This work could be extremely important in
areas of low demand, to prevent further decline and to turn areas
around before they reach a point of no return. And it could be
started quickly, using RSLs as the vehicles. To take this forward,
the Corporation is pursuing a number of proposals for Housing
Regeneration Company pilots, with RSLs and local authorities,
to confirm whether this approach would indeed add value. In doing
so, we are keeping the DETR informed about the work, so that it
complements their own Urban Regeneration Company pilots. We have
also taken steps, with the DETR, to allow RSLs to diversify their
activities to enable them to fully participate as partners in
regeneration projects (UTF recommendation 35).
12. In summary, the differences between
the work of Urban Regeneration Companies and Housing Regeneration
Companies as we perceive them is illustrated in the table below:
Urban Regeneration Companies
Deliver vehicle to lead and co-ordinate regeneration
strategy for a wide area which would include a number of neighbourhoods
(possibly spanning an Urban Priority Area or could be borough-wide).
Acts in accordance with the objectives of a
wider strategy developed by the local authority and its partners.
Co-ordinates all regeneration activities.
Housing Regeneration Companies
Delivery vehicle, but with a specific neighbourhood
focus (may cover just one of the neighbourhoods within the UPA
or URC). Could be used where there was no need for an overall
URC.
Deals with a specific problem—housing
regeneration focus—to tackle areas where there are serious
housing problems across tenures.
Involvement in wider "housing plus"
activites where relevant.
MANAGING THE
URBAN ENVIRONMENT
13. The Corporation would support the proposal
to pilot different models of neighbourhood management which give
local people a say in the decision-making process. In recognition
of the importance of this to creating sustainable communities,
we are already reviewing our own policy on resident controlled
housing and are consulting on proposals to make grants available
for community capacity building activities (see paragraphs 25-29
below). Neighbourhood focused regeneration, likely to be the thrust
of the Social Exclusion Unit's Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal,
is supported by the Corporation.
14. Strong measures to tackle anti-social
behaviour (UTF recommendation 27) are also necessary and the Corporation's
own activities are set out in paragraphs 23.3 and 23.4 below.
However, it is important to ensure that in developing such policies
those most vulnerable and in need of assistance are not forgotten.
DESIGNING THE
URBAN ENVIRONMENT
15. The Corporation agrees that good design
is key to making the urban environment more attractive. We would
be happy to contribute to all of the key recommendations in this
section of the Task Force's report—development of a national
urban design framework, contributions to government sponsored
demonstration projects and supporting spatial master-planning.
The Corporation is already funding (with English Partnerships)
the production of an Urban Design Compendium to be launched this
year, and has been involved in the Millennium Villages competition.
16. Increasing density in urban areas would
not present difficulties to the Corporation or RSLs, as RSL schemes
are general developed to higher densities than equivalent private
schemes.[9]
We also encourage RSLs to produce homes that are adaptable for
future internal or external extension. Open roof spaces which
are designed to accommodate conversion are actively encouraged.
The Corporation has also been instrumental in the development
of Housing Quality Indicators (HQIs)—a system of assessing
the provision of housing design quality across a range of ten
factors, including location, external and internal environments
and performance in use. They are currently being piloted by RSLs.
It is our intention to introduce HQIs as a condition of funding
in the near future.
THE INTERFACE
BETWEEN URBAN
ISSUES AND
OTHER POLICY
AREAS
17. Whilst the Urban White Paper will need
to focus on policies to regenerate and re-invigorate our urban
areas, there needs to be close linkages with the development of
the Rural White Paper. It is important to avoid the tendency to
see urban and rural policies as almost entirely separate. Even
where the two are linked, there is a danger of dealing with the
environmental problems of the countryside through urban programmes.
This misses a more important message. In a country as small and
developed as England town and country are inextricably linked—by
transport, culture, history, economic development, commuting,
holidays etc...We need to plan urban and rural policy in concert,
whilst acknowledging the distinct features of local areas. This
is why in the work the Corporation is doing on rural strategies
with the Countryside Agency, the Local Government Association
and the Chartered Institute of Housing, we are helping to develop
housing strategies which embrace both town and country. We are
also ensuring that within our own Regional Housing Statements
both urban and rural matters are considered together.
18. There is a need for a more corporate
approach between planning and housing, both in terms of planning
numbers and location of new housing facilitating the provision
of social housing. We look forward to seeing what the Housing
Green Paper might say about the future of Section 106 agreements.
19. The involvement of the community in
any urban programme is paramount. Measures that the Corporation
is taking to ensure that RSLs embrace this agenda are given in
section C below. In addition the involvement, empowerment and
aspirations of Black and Minority Ethnic Communities need to be
a general consideration in all regeneration programmes.[10]
C. BUILDING AND
MAINTAINING SUSTAINABLE
COMMUNITIES
20. The Committee has correctly identified
two key challenges facing the Corporation in urban areas. First,
across the country there are pockets of concentrated deprivation.
This is well documented and recognised by the work of the Government's
Social Exclusion Unit and by programmes like the New Deal for
Communities. Social housing often features in these areas, which
have low levels of (official) economic activity, high levels of
benefit dependency and are often associated with anti-social behaviour.
Local services (like health and education) are stretched to the
limit. Managing housing in these areas, preventing them declining
further and helping to turn them around is a major challenge for
Registered Social Landlords and the Corporation. RSLs are already
represented on a number of New Deal for Communities partnerships,
helping to develop proposals to deliver greater choice and quality
within both the social rented and low cost home ownership sectors.
The Corporation's investment in these areas will be targeted at
the Government's wider economic regeneration agenda.
21. Second, there is an increasing fragmentation
of housing demand: pockets of low demand contrast with other areas
facing increasing demand and the threat of urban sprawl. The Corporation
needs to ensure that its policies can respond effectively to the
housing investment requirements of different regions. In areas
where low demand is the problem we must avoid worsening the situation.
22. The Corporation has commissioned a number
of important pieces of research which examine these problems and
suggest solutions (see Annex 3). In order to deal with both issues
and create vibrant urban communities there is considerable consensus
about the sort of activity necessary. It includes:
22.1 measures to create a better balance
within communities and a greater mix of incomes to prevent areas
becoming ghettos;
22.2 methods to prevent communities falling
into decline and to revitalise those that have. In particular
the economic future of an area needs to be secured;
22.3 applying "joined-up" Government:
not just concentrating on housing solutions but focusing more
widely on the needs of the community by creating employment opportunities,
ensuring that good quality essential services exist, that schools
are attractive and that other facilities (shops and leisure for
example) are in place. Of particular importance in the need for
a strategic vision—an overaching plan for an area—which
co-ordinates the vital pieces of the jigsaw. For example, the
Corporation is committed to providing new housing in areas of
economic growth . In doing so, we ensure that our investment ties
in with local and regional economic plans (where new industry
creates a need for housing, for example). We also encourage RSLs
to develop employment opportunities for their tenants;
22.4 involving the community in plans for
regeneration from a very early stage and encouraging greater resident
control and empowerment in these areas;
22.5 finding solutions that cut across the
public and private sectors. In housing terms this means finding
ways of dealing with poor private sector stock that is blighting
a neighbourhood and negatively affecting its reputation.
MEASURES BEING
TAKEN BY
THE CORPORATION
23. The Corporation has, over the past few
years, set in train a number of measures to promote balanced communities
and tackle problems of fragmented demand. We have made changes
to our regulatory regime to ensure that RSLs have the flexibility
to respond to local housing conditions whilst retaining their
responsibilities for providing good quality housing to those in
housing need and for protecting public and private investment.
Examples of these changes are set out below.
23.1 A requirement on RSLs to respond to
changing demand. We require RSLs to know and understand the social
conditions that may put at risk the value or lettability of their
housing. Crucially this needs an assessment of whether people
will continue to want to live in an area. Where there is evidence
of changing demand RSLs need to consider the future management
of their stock. We have commissioned a number of research studies
into good practice in asset management and intensive housing management
initiatives.
23.2 Moving away from letting only to those
in greatest housing need. We revised our Performance Standards[11]
in 1997 and for the first time we allowed RSLs to let Social Housing
Grant funded accommodation to people who were not necessarily
in the greatest housing need, in order to help create more balance
within a community. We introduced a new standard saying RSLs had
to consider whether a particular letting would lead to an unsustainable
tenancy or an unstable community. We allowed RSLs to use local
lettings policies which took these wider considerations into account.
We stressed that such local lettings policies had to relate to
a specific geographical area, had to have the support of the local
authority and had to be seen as part of a comprehensive strategy
to deal with identified problems. This policy was supported by
a number of research and good practice projects (see Annex 3 and
4).
23.3. Strengthening the requirement for RSLs
to tackle anti-social behaviour. We have issued an addendum to
Performance Standards setting out what we expect from RSLs where
their tenants experience or perpetrate anti-social behaviour.
This stresses the importance of taking complaints seriously and
working with other agencies (particularly police, probation, social
services and local authorities) to tackle such behaviour.
23.4 Using introductory tenancies. Where
RSLs operate in areas that are under stress we allow them to use
assured shorthold tenancies as introductory tenancies for the
first twelve months. These shorthold tenancies only become assured
tenancies where the landlord is satisfied that the tenant is not
a threat to the stability of the area. This sends a very clear
message to the local community that anti-social behaviour or breaches
of tenancy will not be tolerated.
23.5 Changing our regulatory regime to enable
RSLs to carry out a more diverse range of activities, but without
taking unacceptable risks with either their core social housing
business or the public funds invested in their social housing
stock. We have been developing and consulting on these changes
over the past eighteen months and expect to finalise our new regulatory
arrangements shortly. Our aim is to enable RSLs to get fully involved
in the regeneration of areas in which they operate.
24. Our investment policies have also changed
to ensure that we are responding to the challenges posed by changing
demand and sustainability:
24.1 During the past year the Corporation
has started to implement a new approach to the way it makes housing
investment decisions. The approach is more strategic and less
mechanistic (see Annex 2 for details). It recognises that the
issues and challenges faced both between and within the regions
of England vary enormously and that the solutions to these challenges
have to be devised at a regional and local level—not by
a national formula. It involves working closely with other regional
stakeholders, including Regional Development Agencies and Government
Offices, to ensure our priorities are complementary. We have to
ensure that housing policies do not stand alone but fit with local
economic strategies and all-encompassing plans for areas. The
impact of this strategic approach is already apparent and we have
been able to meet our three national investment objectives by
tailoring our investment to more appropriately met regional and
local needs. It means that we should only be adding to the social
housing stock in areas where there is continuing or growing demand
and supporting regeneration and renewal in other areas where there
is a locally agreed comprehensive strategy.
24.2 The Corporation is also developing new
investment "tools", which provide a wider repertoire
for identifying, dealing with, and responding to the problems
of low demand and unpopular neighbourhoods. In particular,
24.2.1 With the agreement of the local
authority and working within an agreed strategy, we are piloting
(in the North East and North West) the use of Social Housing Grant
by RSLs to acquire and demolish private sector dwellings in areas
of low demand. These are relatively small scale pilots, focused
on mixed tenure neighbourhoods having particular problems. The
selective removal of empty and derelict properties, mainly owned
by absentee landlords, together with other regeneration initiatives,
should help to halt the deterioration and stabilise the area;
24.2.2 We are developing the use of a
Geographic Information System to gain better intelligence about
the housing market, demographic and economic trends, etc in order
to ensure we make sound decisions. This intelligence will feed
into the Regional Housing Statements that we produce jointly with
regional Government Offices[12]
and will enable the Corporation to respond to regional variations
in housing demand. A national template for the Statements is being
produced so that the information is consistent and can be compared
nationally.
24.3 We consider the long term sustainability
of a housing scheme before making allocations of grant. The checklist
that we use to do this is wide ranging and covers the scale of
the project, community mix, child density, community facilities,
community involvement, access to jobs, training, childcare, education,
shopping, crime, access to facilities, transport links and management
and regeneration. We have encouraged RSLs to develop housing which
increases the scope for future flexibility by cost effective adaptation
because it is more sustainable in the long term.[13]
We are also developing methods for assessing the longer term outcomes
of investment, in addition to the usual shorter-term outputs.
This assessment will be wider than the normal checks on the quality
of the housing being produced—it will consider the long
term future of the project being funded.
24.4 The Corporation supports the use of
mixed tenure as one of several tools which help to promote mixed
communities. In schemes funded by Social Housing Grant, we are
monitoring the extent of mixed tenure provision in developments
of twenty-five homes and over, and encouraging the inclusion of
full and shared ownership in appropriate cases. In London and
the South East the Corporation's regions are working with local
authority housing and planning departments to seek affordable
housing for rent and sale on inner city sites being developed
by the private sector.
However, it is important to retain flexibility
in approach to this issue—mixed tenure is not a solution
appropriate to all circumstances. While low cost home ownership
can help households (like key workers) in the South East gain
access to areas they otherwise could not afford, in parts of the
North East and North West, where house prices are low, it is not
a suitable option. It should only be developed in areas with a
long term future and where there is a need for subsidised ownership.
24.5 The Corporation works to ensure that
in both investment terms and in regeneration projects the needs
of Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) communities are met. For
example, we expect bids for funding projects targeted on BME communities
to demonstrate involvement and proposed participation of those
communities at all stages (identification of needs, design and
development and long term management).
INVOLVING TENANTS
25. A central plank of any area regeneration
has to be resident involvement[14].
To encourage RSLs to embrace this agenda the Corporation is doing
two things. First reviewing and re-issuing its policy on resident
controlled housing. Second by making grants available for community
capacity building.
26. In 1998 the Corporation started to review
its work on a variety of forms of resident control over their
housing and considered how they contribute to the reduction of
social exclusion, the creation and maintenance of healthy communities
and empowering tenants and residents. The work was carried out
by the Office for Public Management (OPM)[15].
It concluded that resident controlled housing had clear benefits
including: better housing management, capacity building opportunities
for tenants and residents, community sustainability particularly
in regeneration areas and tenant empowerment.
27. The Corporation does not advocate one
model of resident controlled housing above any other. The OPM
report found that a wide range of models were needed to suit local
circumstances and priorities, including tenants' aspirations.
28. It is also important to acknowledge
that, while resident control does bring benefits, it also involves
additional cost. These need to be built into projects from the
beginning. It is also imperative that any policy seeks to maximise
the benefits of resident controlled housing where the payoff is
likely to be highest, for example in areas of regeneration.
29. We are currently consulting on making
grants available to develop the capacity of residents to play
a more effective part in decisions affecting future investment
in their homes and neighbourhoods. A number of pilot projects
will be set-up to get a clearer picture of what works in different
circumstances.
Joined-up government
30. Urban regeneration can only succeed
if housing organisations work with others to deliver integrated
approaches. We developed a "housing plus" policy several
years ago to encourage RSLs to take this approach[16].
We have been using our Innovation and Good Practice Programme
to encourage RSLs to forge effective links with local Welfare
to Work policies and programmes, Health and Education Action Zones
and build links with the statutory and voluntary agencies to ensure
key services (including those for the most vulnerable), are in
place. We have also been actively developing our own formal liaison
arrangements with the Department for Education and Employment,
the Department of Health, the Home Office and Social Services.
These links are already bearing fruit: we have been able to feed
into the DfEE's review of New Deal for Employment, to assist with
the work of Department of Health's Teenage Pregnancy Unit and
work with the home office to reduce crime on housing estates.
8 (i) recycling land and buildings, (ii) improving
the urban environment, (iii) achieving excellence in leadership,
participation and management and (iv) delivering regeneration. Back
9
Figures can be supplied on request. Back
10
The Corporation has its own policy to encourage RSLs, Black and
Minority Ethnic Policy, published May 1998. Back
11
The standards that the Corporation sets down for Registered Social
Landlords and against which they are judged. Back
12
Regional Housing Statements are the starting point for deciding
our investment priorities. They span three to five years, provide
a regional overview, highlighting key housing issues in each region
and identify priorities. They also ensure we meet the principles
of "joined-up government" by taking account of the economic
outlook for the region, demographic projections and regional planning
strategies. Back
13
The Housing Corporation's National Investment Strategy
2000-2001, page seven. Back
14
The importance of this was most recently confirmed in a Department
of the Environment, Transport & the Regions publication Regeneration
that Lasts (February 2000), the dissemination of which we
are jointly sponsoring. Back
15
Models of Resident Controlled Housing, Office for Public Management. Back
16
A Housing plus approach to achieving sustainable communities,
Housing Corporation, 1997. Back
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