Speech by Jonathan Shaw MP at the SE National Housing Federation annual conference - 31 January 2008
I was delighted to accept the invitation to come and speak to you today; to have the opportunity to hear at first hand about the issues that matter most to you.
I think the timing is excellent. We're currently living and working in a period of rapid change in housing and it's vital that Government stays close to key partners – like the National Housing Federation and its members.
The great news is “housing has arrived”. And I know your critical role in its success in this region can’t be understated. If I wanted a title for this speech it would be something like, “Much more than landlords”.
And, in view of your increasingly central role in the life and communities of this region, I can see three challenges that I’d like to offer to all housing associations.
I’ll be asking you to take decisive steps in:
- providing a lead on sustainable development;
- responding to the challenging affordable housing targets;
- continuing to contribute to community development, and particularly skills.
I see my role as Regional Minister as providing a new type of cross-cutting, cross-boundary access for people and organisations.
I’m looking to bring people together locally, sub-regionally and across the South East to share views and expertise. I hope this will offer a new ingredient in creating the solutions we need.
I’ll be seeking to make the right connections, facilitate new relationships and find ways through old issues.
At the same time I aim to be the region’s voice within Whitehall – with access to policy makers and other Ministers. So I want to hear about opportunities to represent the region.
I need to focus my efforts on the issues where I can have most impact on the success and the quality of life of our people living and working here. I’d like your views on what those might be.
So let’s stop for a moment and look at where we are on our journey.
For the first time in forty years housing is at the very top of the Government's priorities. The Prime Minister made public statements about this when he was Chancellor. He launched his personal vision for more and better homes in his first speech as PM.
This is reflected in a Housing Green Paper that sets out his ambitions. Despite what some say this is not just a numbers game. It gives clear, strong messages on quality, sustainability, management, and skills.
But that's just the start – let's consider the many other developments that have been set in train over the past year or so and are now coming to fruition:
the Hills Review has looked at the role of social housing, and how we deliver mixed communities that support work incentives;
the Cave Review has published “Every Tenant Matters”, reporting on how the regulatory system for social housing could be reformed to reduce administrative burdens on social housing providers, improve standards and be responsive to current and future Government priorities;
In response to the Cave recommendations the Housing Corporation’s regulatory role will be delivered by a new independent body. It will seek to improve the way that social housing is managed through a light touch system, rewarding performance and innovation. And it will focus on tenants’ experience. Consultation with you and others on how best to fashion this will be a feature of the next twelve months or so.
the Callcutt review of the housebuilding industry concluded that, given sufficient land , the industry can deliver the Government’s objectives on volume, quality, environmental performance and affordability;
the Sub-National Review of economic development and regeneration considered how to strengthen economic performance in regions, cities and localities. So from 2009 we’ll have a single regional body and a single regional strategy uniting planning and economic development;
the Homes and Communities Agency is bringing together the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships to ensure a greater supply of social and affordable private homes.
The agency will to maximise the potential for surplus public sector land, brown field development and supervise investment in wider infrastructure improvements.
Work is underway on all these fronts, for example through the Housing and Regeneration Bill. We have and will continue to consult widely on these issues.
It's been much more than just moving the pieces on a chessboard. The Comprehensive Spending Review recognised the imperative so housing has been one of the biggest winners in the settlement.
The funding settlement for the region for 2008-11 was misunderstood by some people – let’s be clear that overall the South East received a 30% increase for affordable housing funding. We’re currently spending just over £350m a year on affordable homes, by 2010 that will be close to £466m.
This is designed to support a significant, sustainable uplift in the supply of social rented homes. 2004/5 saw less than 4,000 homes delivered, 2007/8 will see almost 5,000;
for 2008-11 the funding will support an annual average of 6,300 homes.
Outputs will also grow for home ownership schemes.
So let's consider the job to be done.
We work in a great English region, some would argue the best. It's the most populated, and it's the most economically successful per head of population. It's a world-class region, on a par with middle-sized nations. We are, in some ways, victims of our own success. So many people want to move to the region.
It's one of the most beautiful and one of the most diverse regions. It has at least three distinct characteristics –
its a largely rural region
with significant urban or suburban areas
and a prominent coastal strip that includes over a third of local authorities.
That diversity brings its own challenges; I have lived in Kent all my life so I know something about the balances that need to be struck between various competing demands.
I understand the nature of the task we all face: to continue the region's success while closing the gap between deprivation and relative comfort. I understand why housing is at the centre of it. That’s why I set housing, along with skills, as my key concerns when I agreed to become Regional Minister.
The landscape we’re working in is changing in many ways.
The population is ageing and new housing solutions are needed now. The Government’s new strategy, “Housing for an Ageing Population” will make a significant contribution to this conversation.
The Regional Spatial Strategy continues on its course towards final adoption sometime next year;
Local Area Agreements are establishing simpler, more focused targets in the performance agreements between local and central government;
and the new planning process, designed to embed authorities’ place-making role, is taking root across the region.
Social landlords have a role or interest in all of this, especially in the performance of local authorities in enabling managed, sustainable growth.
The message in every Government housing and planning publication since 2003 has been consistent – sustainability needs to be at the heart of development. Last year the Government asked the Housing Corporation’s programme to consider not just numbers of new homes but to raise design and environmental standards.
Our duty to future generations – to safeguard, improve, and sustain the physical and natural environment - now dominates the news. And it continues to radically alter the ways business operates and consumers behave.
This is where I encounter my first challenge.
Housing associations have been leading the way for years in environmental and design innovation. We can point to some great examples in this region:
Look at Swaythling Housing Society’s “Chapel” Development in Southampton that won the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment 'Building for Life' award. It also won the 'Large House Builder' at the Housing Design Awards for a design that minimises environmental impact - in particular carbon dioxide emissions from energy use;
Look at the Places for People “Broughton Atterbury” development in Milton Keynes -
one of the largest developments in the country to achieve an Eco Homes 'Excellent' rating, and at an additional cost of just £1,887 per home;
Just down the road in Oakridge Village Sentinel Housing Group created an excellent example of community regeneration. It won awards at national, regional and local levels for its design, partnering approach and community integration;
And Testway Housing’s “Hockney Green” homes in Andover used a site that was left abandoned for over 10 years and created a zero-energy development that achieves the Eco Homes 'Excellent' rating.
These and many other developments in the region show not only what can be done in the rest of the sector, but serve as vital exemplars to the wider construction industry.
To help everyone meet the challenge of sustainable growth the Government is taking action on several fronts:
- the 2016 target for zero carbon homes;
- upgrading Building Regulations regularly over the next nine years;
- new carbon reduction targets in local authority performance frameworks;
- and new Planning Policy Statements on Climate Change and the Environment.
So my challenge is for you to continue this lead and to seek to influence the commercial developers to come forward with their own response to the technology advances that are increasingly featuring in your homes.
My second challenge underpins my comments about place-making and influencing behaviour.
First of all many in and beyond Government have a vision, that I understand, for housing associations to become major players in the supply of new homes.
Commercial developers have many competing interests to balance, with their shareholders holding a prominent place.
I see the advantage of businesses founded on social enterprise putting the needs of local communities and individual households above that of commercial profit.
That is why, as part of the ambition to step up delivery, we look to Registered Social Landlords to demonstrate to commercial developers some best practice in building open-market housing alongside the affordable.
We also want a more responsive relationship between housing associations and the Housing Corporation. Regular Market Engagement, the new approach that enables social landlords to respond quickly to opportunities that arise during the three year programme, this provides real potential for a more flexible approach to scheme development. Let’s see together how we can make it work best. This will feed into the Homes and Community Agency and help it hit the ground running.
Something I personally feel very strongly about is the importance of improving the skills base in the region. There is an acknowledged shortage of building skills in the country that we in the South East feel acutely, especially at times of major construction projects.
The Construction Skills Network has calculated we will need 52,000 new entrants to the industry over the next four years in order to deliver the housing and upgraded transport planned for this region. Where are our builders to come from when so many will be making tracks to the 2012 Olympics work? The answer is often, “from the new European countries”.
This may resolve the immediate problem, but adds to the pressures on housing. I think of the many young people with practical abilities but no outlet for them, and I think of those in areas of economic disadvantage and few local opportunities, and I feel sure there’s benefit in viewing these issues together.
And how do we support skills development in renewable energy and other new technologies we will need increasingly to tackle climate change and its impacts?
As some of you will have heard me say before, the public sector has the opportunity to exert influence over the way in which services, products and capital investment are provided. I would like everyone here today to consider how the major affordable housing programmes can better support these aims.
My challenge is that every time you sign a contract, or commission a new initiative, you undertake to support at least one person from this region to learn or develop a new skill.
I am talking to skills stakeholders about how this could work in practice. If anyone here today has ideas which they want me to consider in relation to this, please let my office know.
I am here in my role as regional Minister for the South East. But, of course, I also have a keen interest in the work that you do in my role as Minister for Rural Affairs.
Rural areas are at the forefront of many of the changes and challenges experienced across the country. For example, a growing and ageing rural population are key drivers for pressure on rural housing supply.
And we are all aware that the increases in average house prices between 2000 and 2005 experienced across England have occurred at a faster rate in rural areas.
The challenges are well-rehearsed and certainly not news to anyone in this room. At the same time there are also real opportunities and I would like to focus on these now.
I’m pleased to let you know I’m currently talking to the National Parks authorities about the development of affordable housing.
The Affordable Rural Housing Commission highlighted the passion and energy which some local authorities, housing associations and members of the public have put into addressing the need for affordable rural housing.
But at the same time they recognised that this passion and energy was far from universal. In highlighting examples of best practice they also questioned why such solutions were not being picked up across all rural areas. They found that success could overwhelmingly be attributed to leadership at the local level – from organisations like yours that, “took on the issue, backed their ideas and helped make it happen.”
So that is my vision today for rural delivery. No-one pretends that it is easy - but overwhelmingly the evidence shows us that it can be done. And where it is being done it is with organisations like yours in the driving seat.
My third challenge needs imagination and some risk-taking as well as careful planning.
The Hills Review made some powerful observations about social housing and disadvantage. Social housing waiting lists continue to grow yet social housing estates continue to see concentrations of worklessness and deprivation.
And despite higher housing standards overall, many people are actually less than happy with their neighbourhoods and their homes. The report suggests a lack of mixed communities is a significant factor in this.
I think we need a fresh drive to give all our people chances and choices – to make sure they have the opportunity to break free from a dependency culture.
I know that social landlords already deliver a range of services to promote thriving communities. You’ve responded well to your duties towards tenant empowerment and housing and support for vulnerable households.
My challenge considers the energy and commitment that characterises the sector and wonders what more housing associations might do to foster mature communities? Communities that lift up the most disadvantaged, overcome worklessness and promote mobility? What else should be done for the provision of sustainable services and structures?
“More public money” is a simple answer but funding will always be less than we want. The key is to continue to strive to get the maximum from the funding we have. It’s a task that requires diligence and creativity across all parts of society.
So we need new partnerships, we need communities, and we need private enterprise to seek fresh answers to these deep-rooted questions. Housing Associations have the experience and energy to provide leadership in many of these new solutions.
And we haven’t even talked about how we are to appropriately house older people now, and in future. This is something else that I look for us to work on together.
I’m a believer in “two heads are better than one” and I wonder how much more can be accomplished through closer cooperation between associations? This may mean looking into stock rationalisation, or joint ventures, or sub-regional partnerships around specific themes. Anything that builds the capacity and the influence of social landlords is surely worth considering.
As you know I’m not a housing Minister so my ability to respond in detail to complex questions will be restricted, however at the question time following the next speaker I’d be interested to hear your thoughts about the issues I’ve highlighted –
-Leading the industry in sustainable building
-Focusing on construction skills development
-Playing a leading role in crafting communities and alleviating worklessness
-Organising to drive maximum benefit from the assets and experience you all possess.
Thank you for your work, energy and commitment so far in this vital field, and I look forward to hearing of your continued success.
Thank you.
Page published: 13 February 2008