Author: Alex Toal

Categories
Blog Post

Labour’s Planning Bill is the keystone of its housing delivery plans

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner NPPF visit by No. 10 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

On Monday 24th March, the most ambitious planning reform in a generation will be debated in the House of Commons. Labour’s’ Planning and Infrastructure Bill is the latest in a number of changes to the planning system, and will be central to the Government’s plan to deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament.

What does the Planning and Infrastructure Bill do?

The remit of the Bill goes well beyond housing and targets the planning obstacles to delivery in a number of key areas:

  • Simplifying the approval process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), including by reducing consultation requirements for these.
  • Establishing a Nature Restoration Fund for developers to pay into to address issues like nutrient neutrality.
  • Compulsory Purchase reform, so that councils can acquire land for social housing at existing use value rather than inflated ‘hope’ value.
  • Reforming planning committees, including the introduction of compulsory training and a delegation scheme to empower non-political council officers to make more decisions.
  • Introducing sub-regionally developed Spatial Development Strategies to encourage councils to work across their borders.

The Bill also has a number of other measures such as the devolution of planning fees, and reforming and strengthening development corporations to make their roll-out easier.

Sign up to red brick’s free newsletter

How will this address the housing crisis?

In essence, the Bill eliminates some important reasons for which homes do not make it through the consenting process, or are stalled after approval.

For instance, introducing a Nature Restoration Fund will help to unlock 160,000 homes blocked by nutrient neutrality rules.

Reforming Compulsory Purchase Orders will also make it easier for local authorities to deliver council homes. Hope value can inflate agricultural land by as much as 275 times its existing value, and can result in councils having to decrease the percentage of social homes on a site.

Measures around spatial development strategies and reforming committees should also help to resolve issues where large sites are made more contentious due to the lack of existing infrastructure. By ensuring that councils are coordinating across boundaries to provide key services, and by ensuring that more decisions are made by council officers, political factors should play less of a role in discretionary planning decisions.  

A keystone to other Labour’s plans:

The Bill cannot be seen in isolation, and instead has to be viewed as part of a package of measures which the Government is using to achieve a much-needed uplift in housing delivery.

It comes alongside an update to the National Planning Policy Framework, which restored and strengthened housing targets, alongside allocating low-quality ‘grey belt’ land for high quality developments with affordable and social housing and the enrichment of green space.

There have also been a number of reforms to boost delivery in urban areas, not least the introduction of brownfield planning passports, so that development on brownfield sites automatically goes ahead if it meets local planning requirements. Also in this category are plans to allow for ‘zoning’ around train stations.

Finally, the Government has added £800 million to the Affordable Homes Programme, and refocused it on the delivery of social housing, so that private housebuilding is supplemented with crucial state provision.

Labour’s ‘everything theory of housing’

It was clear from the outset that the Government had a ‘Housing theory of everything’. Solving the housing crisis will be crucial to a number of Labour’s aims to improve living standards, generate growth, and solve the climate crisis, and Labour clearly understands this.

But the way in which they have gone about this programme also shows that they have an ‘everything theory of housing’, using a range of levers to boost delivery, and clearly identifying which issues need solving through primary legislation, which through policy tweaks, and which through further funding.

Doing this alongside passing a generational boost to the rights of private renters, reforming the feudal leasehold system and introducing commonhold as a default tenure, boosting funding for homelessness prevention and setting up a cross-Government homelessness taskforce, increasing resourcing for the Building Safety Regulator and accelerating the remediation of dangerous cladding, investing £3.4 billion into a new Warm Homes Plan, and identifying 100 sites for urban extensions or new towns, shows a Government in hyperdrive to fix this most pressing of crises.

Planning reforms have so far primarily addressed stalled housing delivery in exurban and rural areas, where delivering new homes is, in theory, easiest. Going forward, the Government also needs to tackle other critical barriers to building new homes, such as the cost of building homes, and the construction sector’s skills shortage, not to mention issues around densification and regeneration or urban sites. Looking ahead to the Comprehensive Spending Review, finding ways to support councils building as has been laid out in Red Brick’s 10-year plan for housing series will be welcome to boost much-needed council homes.

But, for the present, the Second Reading debate of the Bill on 24th March should provide an opportunity to celebrate legislation which will meaningfully contribute to ending the housing crisis, and to make the case for how important it will be going forwards for this to remain at the top of the Government’s agenda.

Categories
Blog Post

Focusing on enforcement and how Labour can embrace disruption from government

Image by Sébastian Dah is licensed under Creative Commons
Image by Sébastian Dah is licensed under Creative Commons

The past few weeks have shown just how much Donald Trump’s return to the White House has disrupted politics globally. At home, the new President has been a bull in the china shop of the US Government, freezing programmes and firing thousands of staff with little clear rationale. Abroad, the biggest realignment of geopolitics has occurred, with the US all but switching sides in the conflict in Ukraine and Trump’s Vice President JD Vance haranguing the principles of liberal democracy at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the new administration’s manic energy of disruption has been felt as Reform UK have soared to first place in opinion polling, and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) secured their best election result.

It is clear that there is an appetite in the electorate for speed, disruption, and a reset. Patience for norms or rules has eroded, and a desire for change, which Labour capitalised on in their 2024 election victory, is still burning bright.

subscribe to red brick’s free newsletter

But embracing this appetite in Government is hard, particularly with the circumstances of Labour’s win. Labour now has an insurmountable majority in parliament, backed up with Labour mayors in all but one Combined Authority, and is even the largest party in local government. If there is anything which Labour cannot do, it is likely to appear to the electorate that it is through a lack of political will, rather than through the many obstacles which still exist.

And these hurdles are real indeed. As Andy Bates recently pointed out, the social housing sector is a web of housing associations and local authorities, who have at best a loose sense of accountability through grant funding or elected members respectively. But this can be extended even more when considering the whole housing ecosystem of developers, contractors, freeholders, regulators, and landlords. There are tens of thousands of organisations who are involved in delivering the Government’s housing missions, but who do not always share the Government’s motivation.

It is with this in mind that focusing on these organisations can not only be a political opportunity for Labour, but can also expose the flaws in the system which legislation can fix.

Picking fights on behalf of constituents against seemingly unaccountable bodies is clearly good politics. Not only that, but if done with sufficient force it can actually yield results.

This has most clearly been seen recently in the over 100-strong group of Labour MPs holding managing agents to account, who have already secured several concessions from FirstPort, the largest managing agent in the country, including meetings with residents so that FirstPort can be held to account on an estate-by-estate basis.

But it also offers the opportunity to expose just how lacking the regulatory state is in its ability to ensure compliance with existing rules, let alone new legislation.

Quality issues on many newbuild estates are famously documented, from faulty sewage systems to holes willed with disposable coffee cups. Meanwhile, existing private rental sector regulation, such as the Homes (Fit for Human Habitation) Act remain blatantly unenforced in thousands of properties across the country. Recently, the UK’s burgeoning Building Safety Regulator has seen significant teething problems as it enforces much-needed regulations on high rise buildings, with 86% of building control ‘Gateway 2’ application rejected.

Labour is pushing through ambitious programmes of reform in the private rental sector with the Renters’ Rights Bill, newbuild standards with the Future Homes Standard, and reforms to the feudal leasehold system with a new Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill, alongside the arduous process of implementing the previous Government’s poorly written and loophole-ridden Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act.

The common theme across all of this legislation, however, is that enforcing these new rules is going to be a significant challenge. Nearly half of housebuilders have reported that they are ready for the Future Homes Standard. Meanwhile, new standards in the Renters’ Rights Bill such as Awaab’s Law, will only be online in the social housing sector in October of this year, after receiving Royal Assent in July 2023.

Why this is so widespread is more difficult to diagnose. Depending on the sector, the weight and speed of new regulations, lack of capacity in enforcement authorities, a lack of engagement and transparency with industry, or simply organisational complacency, can be contributing factors, and that is even before considering the difficult financial situations facing many local authorities, housing associations, and even developers.

By calling out, meeting with and working to improve the performance of organisations and individuals who provide and maintain our housing, Labour politicians have the opportunity to vocally stand up on constituents’ behalf, to achieve real outcomes, and also investigate first-hand the deficiencies of the regulatory state.

The bold reforms which Labour MPs are pushing through in Parliament will only matter if they can actually be enforced. And, by embracing the spirit of disruption and calling out the organisations directly responsible for their constituents’ housing, they have the opportunity to embrace the agenda driving forces of populism across the world and utilise it for good.

Categories
Blog Post

Rachel Reeves’ war on uncertainty

Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out the Government’s plans to promote growth and to kickstart the UK’s economy after a decade of stagnation under the Conservatives.

This followed recent announcements from the Government over the weekend which caused a stir across the housing world. First, Reeves announced a plan to introduce a “zoning scheme”, with a presumption in favour of development around train stations to allow homes to be built faster and without unnecessary barriers. And Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook announced a White Paper on Planning and Infrastructure which reduced the extent to which nationally significant infrastructure projects would have to consult with a broad range of stakeholders.

Sign up to Red brick’s free newsletter

It is clear that stability and certainty is one of the Government’s main arguments for the UK to be an attractive investment destination. With an unpredictable Trump across the Atlantic, and political instability across Europe, Labour’s sizeable majority and loyal party makes the UK a rare island of (relative) calm.

This stability is clearly being driven from Reeves, famously an accomplished chess player, a game whose stability derives from the fact that it only has three variables: the two players participating and which one begins.

In comparison, our planning system currently resembles more a game of Monopoly, driven by the randomness of dice throws, which card you pick out from the Chance pack, and how happy Uncle Greg is with the Christmas present you gave him. The success of a project can rely on a myriad of factors from the personalities of council officers, the reaction of statutory consultees like fire services and environmental bodies, whether the application is close to an election which may make committee members nervous, and whether objectors have the resources to launch a legal challenge. This uncertainty can hold up even the most basic project by months if not years, leading to added costs and less certainty.

The UK’s discretionary planning system is also increasingly an outlier, with most comparable countries instead opting for a zoning system, where projects are approved more by the letter and less by the interpretation of existing rules. If a housing project is promoted in an area designated for housing, it has to fulfil a set of requirements and is then good to go.

In response to this, the Government’s actions seem to attempt to create something closer to a zoning system, particularly in places where the argument for new homes is strongest; they are introducing planning passports for brownfield sites, releasing ‘grey belt’ land under ‘golden rules’ of development, reducing the extent to which judicial review can hold back housing projects, and increasing the amount of delegation to officers from planning committees.

This is all good as far as certainty is concerned. Fewer vetos within the planning system will create greater stability and expectation of a return on investment for people investing money into new housing. At the very least, this will mean that new homes get built faster. An optimistic take would also say that if investors are surer of their returns they will be more able to set aside money for infrastructure investment around new homes, and providing affordable and social housing alongside homes for private sale.

But, as encouraging as these steps are, it is uncertain how many new homes they will deliver in the long-term, with planning departments still under-resourced, developers weighed down with new environmental and quality standards, and delivery in urban areas hampered with significant viability challenges.

While Rachel Reeves may have claimed a few victories in the war on uncertainty, a few major campaigns await.

A final, implementable version of the Future Homes Standard is needed, so that developers have a clear idea of the environmental standard for new homes and adapt accordingly.

Work needs to be done to smooth the operations of the Building Safety Regulator, which is still rejecting 86% of Gateway 2 applications (at building control stage). An active approach needs to be taken to ensure that the BSR provides clear guidelines, advice and feedback, and to resource them to provide swift and clear verdicts.

And considerable work needs to be done around viability, so that developers and local authorities have a clear understanding of what can be delivered on individual urban sites, how much social housing can be provided from day one, and how long projects will take.

All of this is even before considering more major questions around housing. How can the myriad of documents developers need to submit be simplified? How can local authority and housing association development capacity be increased to deliver the social homes we sorely need? And what work is needed to challenge our existing model of speculative development, to modernise construction practices, and to encourage smaller sites and diversity in the housebuilding sector?

While the economic winds may be challenging for the Government, housing is its one place where it is forging a strong path. Builders are projecting an increase of new homes, including of social and affordable housing, and the industry as a whole is fully behind Labour’s plans.

But, in order to turn this mood music into a plan for 1.5 million homes, the Government needs to grasp the nettle of all causes of uncertainty, and work to create a stable environment for new homes. 

Categories
Blog Post

Is there hope for housing in the Lib Dems?

Ed Davey & SSEs Paul Smith by Department of Energy and Climate Change is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

2024 has been a year of unprecedented success for the Liberal Democrats. With the party seeing a record 72 MPs elected in July, the party has managed to quickly turn around a decade of difficulties since their time in the coalition government.

With this comes genuine power. The Lib Dems chair three parliamentary select committees, most notably the Health and Social Care Committee. Ed Davey has two regular questions at PMQs, allowing him an avenue to forge a national policy platform.

The Liberal Democrats are also in power across 68 local authorities across the country, covering over 6 million people.   

This success puts the party in an awkward space, and one which the British political system struggles to accommodate, as a true third party, well in advance of Reform or the Greens, but a fair distance from the official opposition.

Where the Lib Dems go next is up for debate. Are they the party of attention-grabbing stunts and comical bar-charts? Or are they a serious contender for government, needing to flip a mere 25 seats to overtake the Conservatives?

When it comes to housing, this duality runs deep.

subscribe to red brick’s free newsletter

The detail

The Lib Dems had the most detailed housing proposals of any party at the election, with over 500 words on their plans across housing delivery and homelessness. Their headline pledges were as follows:

  • Building 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes a year, majoring on community-lead development
  • Banning no-fault evictions, making three-year tenancies the default, and creating a national register of licensed landlords
  • Giving local authorities, the powers to end Right to Buy in their areas.
  • Ending rough sleeping within the next Parliament
  • Abolishing residential leaseholds and capping ground rents to a nominal fee

The full plan is available here, with fair detail on ending rough sleeping and empowering social tenants.

A starkly divided party

Many will be familiar with the Liberal Democrats’ divides over housing delivery, most notably at coming to a head at the party’s 2023 conference, where members defeated a motion supported by the party’s leadership which would have abandoned their target of 380,000 homes.

Some decry the party as a hub for opportunistic ‘NIMBYs’ seeking to oppose all new housing. A quick search of “Liberal Democrats” and “housing” reveals a slew of local opposition to housebuilding since the election, including in the New Forest and South Leicestershire.

But it also brings up cases of Liberal Democrats pushing Labour councils to increase their affordable housing targets in Lambeth and Southwark, highlighting inaction on an abandoned development in Wiltshire, and even facing down opposition to new homes while in administration in  the Cotswolds.

The party’s main housing figures, Vicky Slade and Gideon Amos, also have real housing experience, as a council leader and town planner respectively.

The Lib Dems in Parliament and the delivery dividing line

While some opposition parties like the Conservatives, Reform UK or even the Greens have hit out hard against some of Labour’s housing announcements, the Liberal Democrats have been more reserved in their approach.

In Parliament they have been openly supportive several of the Government’s measures, including welcoming the Government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan and voting for the Renters’ Rights Bill.

The main dividing line which they have so far placed has been on housing delivery. While the party is supportive of increasing housing supply, they have been openly critical of ‘top-down’ housing targets and have instead favoured a community-led approach, with a primary focus of delivering 150,000 social homes a year.

This was reflected most recently in Amos’ response to the Government’s NPPF reforms:

“Top-down planning diktats risk a surge in speculative greenfield permissions of the kind that the Minister is concerned about, for homes that are out of people’s reach. Instead, let us fund, incentivise and focus on the social and affordable homes that we need…”

This may be a popular rallying cry, but it ignores the reality of the past few years.

Opposing ‘top-down’ targets ignores the reality that when the last Government abandoned targets, housebuilding collapsed, and that the new Government’s approach to reinstating these has been followed by new starts increasing.

A target of 150,000 social homes a year, while admirable, ignores the fact that, even going by the more generous measure of ‘affordable homes’,  fewer than a third of this goal are currently being delivered. Using this goal as a reason to oppose new housebuilding in general, without a firm plan to deliver it, is pure opportunism.

And suggesting community-led planning as an alternative ignores the fact that few people outside of a hyper-engaged, largely more privileged minority, get involved in the planning system as it is.

While the Liberal Democrats’ vision for housebuilding may be a principled one, it appears out-of-place amid its largely more pragmatic approach. More importantly, it allows space for MPs, including the party’s Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, to opportunistically rally against building more homes in their local area.

Is there real hope for the Lib Dems?

Unlike the other opposition parties, the Liberal Democrats have a genuine plan to solve the housing crisis, with a broad policy platform with several good ideas.

In order to have a real impact, however, the party needs to moderate its anti-housing opportunists and play less into the populist rallying cries of more minor parties. Most importantly, it needs to acknowledge that any housing policy needs the keystone of a serious plan for delivery, which recognises both the scale of the challenge and the need for a top-down approach.

More in this series:

Categories
Blog Post

Kemi Badenoch’s shift right bodes ill for housing

Kemi Badenoch MP (North West Essex, Conservative) by House of Commons is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The 2024 general election saw the worst result for the Conservative Party in terms of share of seats and votes since its formation in the nineteenth century.

But the Conservatives’ failure should not preclude their return. Only three Conservative leaders have failed to become prime minister, and some recent polls have already put them ahead of Labour. Even a minor swing could put them back in power, with Kemi Badenoch as prime minister.

Badenoch served as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government between the election and her victory in the Conservative leadership contest, and so we know more about her housing positions than other aspects of her views. And her approach so far demonstrates a worrying drift to the right.

subscribe to red brick’s free newsletter

Shifting right on renters’ reform

One of the biggest disappointments of the last Government was a failure to pass the Renters’ Reform Bill. In ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions and bringing in new standards to the private rented sector, the legislation would have been life-changing for millions of private renters.

While Badenoch served in administrations which introduced this legislation, she quickly pivoted after the election to oppose Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which is very similar to the Conservatives’ Bill.

Speaking at the Bill’s Second Reading, she parroted the talking points of landlord lobby groups that the bill would reduce the availability of homes in the private rental sector, while failing to discuss where those homes would go.

This potential tilt away from renters’ rights was further reinforced by Badenoch’s pick for Shadow Housing Minister: Kevin Hollinrake. Hollinrake was founder and chair of Hunters’ estate agents until 2021, and was reported to have numbered among the opponents of his own government’s Renters’ Reform Bill in 2023.

Shifting right on housing delivery

Can building homes be left or right wing? Seemingly under Kemi Badenoch it can be, as housing has become part of her wider ideological conflict with the left.

This has manifested in her blaming left wing administrations in urban centres and the bureaucratic ‘deep state’ for a failure to build the homes we need.

The former continues a long-standing trend of Conservatives trying to disproportionately focus construction in urban areas.

This is for a brazenly political reason: Conservatives have long abandoned metropolitan voters and are happy to concentrate in these areas the disruption caused by building more homes. Accordingly, in 2021 they introduced a somewhat arbitrary 35% “urban uplift” to the 20 most densely populated towns and cities outside of London, and, in 2024 Michael Gove launched a review of Sadiq Khan’s London Plan as a way to criticise the mayor for failing to deliver enough homes.

Badenoch has also continued this tradition, attacking Khan on a similar basis in three of her eight speeches as Shadow Housing Minister.

Similarly, while Badenoch has made pleas to protect the green belt, she has simultaneously started to champion a deregulatory planning policy with measures to “roll back the environmental laws, the diversity and social requirements”, blaming the bureaucratic state for the failures to build more homes.

This is a disappointing hallmark of the Conservatives’ housing policy. While the party failed to meet their own housing targets, before ditching them entirely to appease ‘NIMBY’ backbenchers, their only real solution for the lack of delivery in urban areas has been, and continues to be under Badenoch, to blame local leaders.

Shifting right on migration

A further worrying trend of Badenoch’s tenure as Shadow Housing Minister has been a shift to blame migration for the increase in rent levels, stating that “The only way to improve the lives of [private renters] is to control immigration and build more homes, particularly in high-demand areas like Inner London.”

This is not a far cry from Reform UK’s dishonest blaming migrants for the lack of social housing. Unlike Reform’s argument, which is based purely on falsehood, there is some truth to the idea that any new entrants into the private rental sector will increase demand, whatever their country of origin.

However, this is only part of the picture. Migrants already have significant barriers to renting privately, including language barriers, difficulty finding guarantors, and Right to Rent checks, and so landlords when surveyed admit that they are less likely to rent to someone without a British passport. As a 2017 briefing from the House of Commons Library states:

“Research suggests that new migrants often enter the PRS in areas of low demand, filling less desirable property left by individuals moving into better housing. This may be because some groups of migrants only have access to low-paid or insecure work, but it also reflects variations in perceptions of standards and personal priorities.”

As John Perry notes, this also means that foreign nationals are more likely to live in sub-standard accommodation, the regulation of which Badenoch strongly opposes.

While Badenoch is still new in position, the direction of her housing policy so far demonstrates a concerning shift to the right, with renters, migrants and the environment thrown under the bus. This divisive rhetoric is simply a distillation of the arguments made by the Conservatives in government, and a worrying sign that Badenoch has learned little from the lessons of the past.

More in this series:

Categories
Blog Post

Green populism will not solve the housing crisis

Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, co-leaders of the Green Party, with Elllie Chowns, Housing and communities spokesperson. Image by Bristol Green Party licensed under public domain

One notable moment from the 2024 general election was the surprise success of the Green Party. The party more than doubled their vote to 6.7 percent, with four MPs. This followed a string of successful local election results, which has brought the party a total of 813 councillors.

The party also came in second place in 40 seats in 2024, up from just three in 2019, and they are within a five point swing of an additional five MPs.

For a long time, the political world has treated the Greens as a curiosity with interesting but ‘out there’ ideas. But, as the party’s electoral strength builds, it is worth taking a serious look at their policy offer.

This is particularly important in the housing sector, where their proposals rely on a mix of populist myth-peddling and blunt tools to address one of the most complex crises facing the country.

Sign up for red brick’s free newsletter

What do the Greens stand for?

On housing, the Green Party Manifesto in 2024 had four main priorities:

  • A Right Homes, Right Place, Right Price Charter with new regulations for housebuilding
  • Investing into decarbonising housing
  • Delivering 150,000 social homes per year through purchasing existing homes and building new ones, including ending the Right to Buy
  • Regulating the private rental sector by allowing local authorities to introduce rent controls, ending ‘no fault’ evictions and introducing private residential tenancy boards to resolve disputes

Many of these policies are sensible, and several are being implemented by the Labour Government, including investment into housing decarbonisation, restricting the Right to Buy, and ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions. But the sum of these policies, alongside the Green Party’s actions outside of their manifesto, presents a worrying package which could have unintended consequences.

Stymying delivery

One notable moment of the election campaign was the refusal by the Greens’ co-leader, Carla Denyer, to support a housing target, despite being pressed on this three times by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

This is particularly problematic given that many of the Green Party’s policies would make housing delivery harder. The Party’s ‘Right Homes etc… Charter’ includes making councils spread development over small sites, which would eliminate economies of scale by larger development. Likewise, a mandate of Passivhaus Standard on all new homes in this charter would put substantial additional costs on construction with few measurable benefits to the Future Homes Standard currently being introduced by the Government.

Government policy should, of course, promote higher regulations and help smaller builders to create a more diverse industry. But mandating these high bars is a blunt tool for a complex problem.

Similarly, while academics argue the definition and the merits of rent controls, it is relatively well-established that the sort of direct control on rent levels suggested by the Greens has a negative impact on housing supply.  

Combined with the well-publicised history of Green councillors and MPs opposing new housing in their area, this amounts to a concerted effort to stymy housing supply.

This was also shown in the one recent occasion of sustained Green Party control over a local authority when they led Brighton from 2011 – 2015. Data from the Housing Delivery Test show that, in the aftermath of this control, Brighton only managed to deliver 77% of the homes it needed in 2015 – 2018, well below the 130% average of local authorities nationally. Meanwhile, data from 2019 – 2022, after four years of Labour control, shows the council delivering 130% of the homes required by the Delivery Test.

While many on the left may not be concerned with overall housing delivery, since these are mostly market rate homes from private developers, building these homes is crucial. Not only will this have a positive impact on rent levels, but it will result in more social housing being built, since Section 106 contributions from developers are responsible for delivering nearly half of all affordable and social housing. More private homes is, for now at least, key to more social homes. 

Focusing on housing myths

Meanwhile, the Greens have often peddled myths and mistruths in order to avoid focusing on real solutions.

The party’s response to Labour’s announced planning reforms was a perfect encapsulation of this, as the Greens’ Co-leader, Adrian Ramsey, claimed that:

  • There were a million empty homes, only a quarter of these are actually long-term empty
  • There were a million homes with planning permission that developers were refusing to build while not a straight debunk, a report by the Competition and Markets Authority showed, while developers do engage in a degree of ‘land banking’, this is largely due to uncertainty of a steady supply of homes, a symptom of our broken planning system which Labour seeks to reform.
  • That developers intentionally build over-large ‘executive homes’ the average newbuild home is in fact 20% smaller than its counterpart from the 1950s.

Similarly, the Greens’ manifesto included a completely redundant pledge on making developers pay for local infrastructure, which they already do through Section 106.

This was also reflected in Denyer’s answer when quizzed in the aforementioned Laura Kenssberg, where she said:

“The problem is that in so many parts of the country what we’re seeing being built is not what people need. For example what we see are large, out-of-town developments of luxury, executive homes, 4, 5, 6 bed, double garage, and yet no bus service, no doctors or dentists, no more school places. And to be honest they’re not affordable to most of the people living in the area.”

That a key part of a national political party’s housing messaging contains such blatant myths is worrying, and an irresponsible injection into the political discourse.

The allure of populism

But why focus on these areas, rather than have a discussion about the solutions needed?

In part, it may be because the Greens know that their policy platform is not yet one for national government, and so is more of a political document. Rather than providing solutions, it is instead a powerful tool to point fingers and identify ‘baddies’ that their voters can rally against.

This is exactly what its manifesto seeks to do. By advocating for rent controls, impractical or redundant development standards, and action on empty homes, it implies that all of the faults of the housing crisis are down to its ‘villains’, greedy landlords, overseas buyers and corner-cutting developers, and that regulating their activity is all that is needed to fix it.

Opposition allows minor parties the luxury of an incoherent policy platform, but the Greens’ success merits them being taken more seriously. And by playing such obvious political games, they are taking their voters for fools.

Categories
Blog Post

Reform UK cannot win the argument on housing and migration

Nigel Farage MP (Clacton, Reform UK) by House of Commons is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

One of the surprises of the 2024 general election was Reform UK’s first real success at a Westminster election. Few would have guessed that Nigel Farage would be finally elected after seven attempts at Parliament, fewer that he would be joined by four Reform UK colleagues. Even more notable is that they came second in 98 (mostly Labour) constituencies, with 13 within a five percentage point swing.

Whether we like it or not, beating a currently minor party with little record or accountability will be a crucial part of securing the next Labour win at the general election. We have to take on the far right.

When it comes to housing this is particularly important, as Reform UK’s platform is as divisive as it is ineffective. So, what is Reform UK’s platform and why should it worry us?

subscribe for free to red brick’s newsletter

What does Reform UK stand for on housing?

Reform’s housing policy is relatively detailed, including:

  • ‘Loose fit planning’ policy for large developments, alongside brownfield passports to fast-track housing on urban land.
  • A “UK Connection test” for social housing so that “foreign nationals must go to the back of the queue. Not the front.”
  • Abolishing Section 24, which limits the amount of tax relief landlords can get on their residential properties.
  • Abolish the (then) Renters’ Reform Bill.
  • Minor reforms to leasehold to provide more clarity over charging and reduce the cost of renewing leases.
  • Modernise innovative construction practices.

Migration is not the problem

Key to Reform UK’s housing policies, and broader argument, is the myth that migrants take up an unfair share of UK social housing.

Since their election, several of Reform UK MPs have submitted questions regarding how many asylum seekers are being housed in social housing in their constituencies, only to be corrected by the Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook that asylum seekers are ineligible for social housing due to having no recourse to public funds.

This is an oft-touted myth on the far right, that all social housing is allocated more favourably towards non British nationals. This has been debunked in a number of ways:

  • Currently 90% of social housing residents are UK nationals, the same as their makeup of the national population.
  • 17% of people born in the UK live in social housing, compared to 18% of people not born in the UK.
  • Even if you want to take Reform UK’s bait of ‘non UK nationals’ meaning people outside of the ‘White British’ ethnicity classification, this is also untrue. The social housing survey shows that White British people are actually more likely to be in social housing than other ethnicities, comprising 77.6% of new tenures compared to 74.4% of the population.

This myth needs to be called out for what it is – a divisive attempt to create a bogeyman to justify the positions of Farage and his colleagues.

Caving in to vested interests

While claiming to stand up for the ‘little guy’ with this allocations policy, the rest of Reform UK’s platform is a clear pandering to those all benefitting from the housing crisis.

This is something which Reform UK is proud of, with Reform candidate David McLennan  saying during the election campaign “We’re very much a landlords’ party”. This is true in more than one sense, with former Deputy Leader Ben Habib CEO of First Property Group and current Deputy Leader and MP Richard Tice still listed as a Partner at Quidnet Capital, a real-estate focused investment group.

Meanwhile, their tax policy heavily favours those with already substantial funds, including eliminating stamp duty for properties below £750,000 (over twice the national average), raising the Inheritance Tax threshold fourfold to £2m, and abolishing Section 24.

Not only would this benefit landowners in general, but specifically landlords. This has been backed up by the party’s opposition to the Renters’ Rights Bill, which eliminates Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions while keeping a number of routes for landlords to evict unruly tenants, and implements basic standards of accountability to the sector.

Finally, while the party may have a fig leaf to increasing home-building, the actions of Reform MPs have clearly shown a pandering to their most NIMBY instincts. This has manifested in a number of written questions to Ministers including about:

A charlatan’s charter

It is clear from their policy platform that Reform UK have no serious plan to solve the housing crisis. Instead, their policy is based on clear disinformation, that migration is to blame for the UK’s housing shortage and that a pure deregulatory agenda will fix it.

Instead, they represent at best a lobby group for those whose interests lie in keeping the housing crisis unsolved, seeking to milk the housing crisis for all that it’s worth while failing to come up with any real solutions.

Categories
Blog Post

The Autumn Budget: What is in it for housing?

The Chancellor visits Liverpool by HM Treasury is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Today was a first in a number of ways. It marked the first Labour budget in fourteen years, and the first budget ever delivered by a female Chancellor.

But it is also the most ambitious set of measures for the housing sector in quite some time, with a number of policies contained designed to get Britain building, deliver the next generation of social housing, and address some of the stark inequalities in the housing system as a whole.

Investing in delivery

The past few years have seen a slump in affordable housebuilding, particularly in the areas of highest need, with the number of homes started by London-based housing associations down by 92% this year. This is due to a number of reasons, including the increased cost of building, and also a focus on the sector’s existing stock after the passage of much-needed regulation including Awaab’s Law and the Building Safety Act.

It was therefore pleasing to see that one of the headline announcements from the Budget was a £500m top-up to the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). This was a programme started under the last Government to deliver £11.5bn of funding to the affordable housing sector from 2021 – 26.

The additional £500m represents a 10% per annum increase in the value of the fund from 2025-6, which will be particularly useful given the aforementioned pressures on registered providers, and should hopefully allow them to top-up existing project funding as well as starting new ventures.  This funding is also boosted by the confirmation of a five-year rent settlement for social housing providers, under which their rents will be able to increase by CPI +1%. This will provide much needed certainty to the sector after years of more haphazard policymaking.

What’s more, this budget saw additional funding dedicated towards more general housing delivery, including:

  • £3bn in support and guarantees to increase the supply of homes and support small housebuilders.
  • £128m to new housing projects to support the deliver of 33,000 homes
  • A £36m investment in the planning system to boost local authority skills provision, including recruiting the 300 new planners promised in Labour’s manifesto.
Sign up for red brick’s free newsletter

Bringing existing homes up to date

The UK famously has among the oldest and leakiest housing stock in Europe. This is consequential for a number of reasons: consumers’ bills are higher, buildings emit more carbon, and homes are worse for residents’ health.

This budget saw a clear effort to address that, with a £3.4 billion investment into the government’s new Warm Homes Programme as part of the Government’s mission to bring all homes up to EPC C by 2030.

This programme will be transformational for consumers. It will significantly reduce bills and with it emissions from the built environment, and much of the retrofitting work entailed will have knock-on benefits for resident’s health.  

Particularly welcoming was the £1bn dedicated to cladding remediation – this has been called for by those trapped in unsafe blocks and will meaningfully accelerate the removal of dangerous cladding.

Severely restricting the Right to Buy

The Right to Buy, the policy which enables council tenants to buy their homes at a discounted rate, has often been criticised as an unhelpful drain on social housing at the time when lists of people applying for social housing are at their highest. Since discounts were increased by the coalition in 2012, this scheme has accelerated to seeing 10,000 – 12,000 homes lost per year, which are often difficult to replace.

After a review over the summer, this budget saw the government confirm their intention to heavily reduce discounts for the Right to Buy scheme, alongside increasing the time period for a which a tenant has had to live in, and providing additional exemptions for newly built council homes.

This not only undoes some of the worst reforms made under the Coalition Government but places brand new restrictions on the Right to Buy, and so there is hope that sales may dip even below the rates of 4,000 – 5,000 seen in the latter years of the Blair-Brown Governments.

It has also been confirmed that councils will keep 100% of the receipts from sales, making it easier for them to build new homes to supplement those lost from the scheme.

Fill in our reader survey

Taxing housing more fairly

Finally, the budget sought to change the perverse incentives which help to drive inequality in the housing market. At present, many landlords buy up property in the private rental sector as an investment, and happily admit to seeing themselves more as investors than as professional landlords. Similarly, those who are at the lucky enough to own their own homes are able to pass a substantial amount of the value of that home to their children upon death, dividing Britain starkly between those with family property and those without.

This budget saw moves to amend this inequality, with stamp duty rates for second home and capital gains tax increased, while income tax thresholds will be unfrozen from 2028. This marks a substantial change in the tax system to prioritise those seeking to get onto the housing ladder at the expense of those who earn more than property, either as a property owner or as a landlord, while supporting those who derive income from work.

Welcome progress, but more funding will be needed

All of the money delivered in this budget is welcome, and sorely needed. But more will still be needed to achieve the government’s housing goals.

The National Housing Federation has estimated that £4.6bn per year will be needed to deliver the step change in affordable housing needed to meet Labour’s manifesto goals, nearly double of the programme inherited from the Tories.

More investment is also always welcome in directly preventing and tackling homelessness, and in reviving the Supporting People Programme ended by the Tories, but which was estimated to generate £2 for every £1 spent in supporting social housing residents.

Ministers have indicated that this is only the start of Labour’s plans to drive investment in the economy, and we will have to look to the Spending Review taking place over the winter for signals of what departmental budgets will look like in the coming years. Key priorities will be ensuring that the Local Housing Allowance and housing benefit continue to be uprated so that those at the sharpest end of the housing crisis have the support they need.

But the sector must continue to call for these changes and the spending needed to support the government’s aim of ending the housing crisis.

Categories
Blog Post

How social landlords can support residents and reduce health inequalities

A great deal of the conversation in housing policy often rightly revolves around how we build and maintain the homes we need.

But for many social housing providers, getting residents into new homes is just the start of the journey. In 2024, this has proven to be the case more than ever. With the acute shortage of social housing meaning that those who are able to make it off tortuous waiting lists and into secure tenancies are more likely to be in a vulnerable position and require active wellbeing support from their landlord.

I spoke with Connie Jennings, Director of Stronger Communities at whg, a social landlord based primarily in Walsall with homes across the Midlands, about what social landlords can do to directly address issues of resident health outcomes. She portrayed a challenging landscape for many of those who find themselves in need of social housing.

Sign up for Red brick’s free newsletter

Over half of social housing residents in England live in the 30% most deprived neighbourhoods and healthy life expectancy for people living in these communities is almost 20 years shorter than the UK average. They are more likely to be underserved by existing healthcare infrastructure, due to carriers such as transport or language , and are increasingly likely to be disenfranchised by moves to digitise healthcare provision. This can lead to an increasing number of social housing residents going straight to A&E because they find it harder to book GP appointments.

In response to this, whg is deploying targeted, evidence-based and person-centred approaches. In Connie’s experience, “working with housing is the best way to connect with  to this group of people”. She presented the issue of diabetes, which disproportionately impacts Walsall’s South Asian population, some of whom live in whg properties. Local healthcare providers previously attempted to reach local communities to get them to engage with diabetes services through traditional means, such as putting leaflets through doors, but this had a minimal impact. So whg recruited a number of “Community  Champions’ from among their residents with relevant cultural experience and language skills to engage with their neighbours and spread awareness and connect residents with diabetes healthcare services.  .

As Connie pointed out, “The system expects those with the least to jump through the most hoops to get to the services most of us take for granted”. Landlords like whg can help residents to jump through such hoops, such as providing more elderly residents with digital inclusion courses so that they can be in touch with their relatives over Zoom.

Key to whg’s success in this area, in Connie’s mind, is the housing association’s place-based nature, with a large number of  whg properties being in the Walsall area. This has allowed them to build up a relationship with the integrated care partnership and to sit on the local NHS Partnership Board. Rather than investing in multiple contacts across multiple councils, whg is able to focus most of its attention in this single local area.

One issue in many local authorities is a lack of joined-up working between departments within councils, and between local authorities and housing associations, GPs, or schools in their area. This leaves residents having to deal with a range of contacts in the public sector, or in another case one service finding it hard to reach a resident who may be in regular contact with another part of the state. whg aims to reduce this complexity, for instance all of their Wellbeing Schemes for people aged 55+ have  a dedicated Wellbeing Officer on site to support residents. I asked Connie how whg were able to dedicate funding towards this when that many housing associations are facing tighter budgets due to increased costs from building safety or decarbonisation work. Connie attributed this in part due to whg’s long-term organisational culture which prioritises customer wellbeing in the same way they prioritise building safety and carbon reduction, with ring-fenced funding in the organisation’s 2030 plan to carry on this work.

Fill in Red Brick’s reader survey

Thinking about more than just an organisation’s bottom line also has more beneficial long-term financial consequences. Interventions to improve a resident’s mental health could generate a social value of £36,000. And Connie pointed to the work of whg’s employment and training team, which has helped 180 residents to work in local NHS hospitals and healthcare teams, addressing a local skills shortage while providing stable work for the residents. In 2023/4, whg generated a social value of £46.4m through a range of actions such as building new homes, helping residents into employment, and providing money advice to households, in turn helping customers to successfully sustain their tenancies and remain in their home .

I asked Connie what the new Labour Government could do to support the work of individuals like her. She pointed to the Supporting People Programme, ring-fenced funding provided to local authorities to help individuals with additional needs to live independently. Subsequent value-for-money analysis commissioned by the then Department for Communities and Local Government showed that the programme had produced benefits totalling £3.41bn per annum against an overall investment of £1.61bn. Looking ahead to the Autumn Budget, Connie noted, “we’ve got to be able to demonstrate the worth of a social housing tenancy. It shouldn’t be a safety net, it should be a trampoline.”

For all of us in the housing sector, it is crucial not just to champion the value of new homes, but that of secure tenancies with responsible landlords who can help to empower residents to take advantage of new opportunities.

Categories
Blog Post

Labour Conference 2024: What’s going on for housing?

ACC Liverpool by John Lord is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Labour Conference is back! The first conference with a Labour Government in 15 years will see Liverpool teeming with Labour Party activists, VIPs and the broader political world.

Hundreds of events look to be forming out a packed-out calendar, so this editor thought it would be useful for Red Brick readers attending conference to have a quick guide of what’s going on for housing.

This will be split into events, exhibition, and conference floor, with notes for when and where events are happening.

Only confirmed speakers will be registered here, given the number of organisations who include over-ambitious invitations.

Please note that some events may require booking to enter, we recommend that you also check with the event organiser in advance.

If you would like your event included in this list or would like to make an amendment please get in touch with us at [email protected]

Subscribe for Red Brick’s free newsletter and articles

Hall speeches and debates:

Sunday 22nd September:

11:25am – 11:35am | Deputy Leader of the Labour Party’s Speech

Tuesday 24th September:

2:00pm – 4:00pm | Leader of the Labour Party’s Speech

Fringes:

Sunday 22nd September

11:30am – 12:30pm | Meeting Room 12, ACC | Finding Local Solutions to the Housing Crisis (The Labour Party) Join a panel of local government leaders to discuss how Labour Councils can support the Government’s target to build 1.5 million homes.

3:00pm – 4:00pm | Progressive Britain Hub, ACC | “Getting Planning Right: How can we get Britain building and promote nature’s recovery?” (Progressive Britain, CPRE, National Trust, RSPB and the Woodland Trust) Is it possible to deliver growth through the planning system and tackle the nature crisis? Or are the two mutually exclusive?

Speakers:

  • Baroness Sharon Taylor
  • Mary-Ann Ochota (Broadcaster, author and anthropologist)
  • Abi Bunker (Woodland Trust)
  • Craig Bennett (The Wildlife Trusts)
  • Rob Boughton (Thakeham)
  • Marc Harris (Labour YIMBY)

3:15pm – 4:30pm | Meeting Room 4B, ACC | Delivering the homes the country needs (NHBC) A housing event with industry CEOs, senior stakeholders and Party members.

3:30pm – 4:30pm | Arena Room 8, ACC | How can Labour fix the renting crisis? (Renters’ Reform Coalition).

Speakers:

  • Tom Darling, Renters’ Reform Coalition (Chair)
  • Vicky Spratt (The i paper)
  • Anny Cullum (ACORN)
  • Tom McInnes (Citizens Advice)

3:30pm – 4:30pm | Arena Room 10, ACC | How can Labour work with communities to end rough sleeping? (Christians on the left).

Speakers:

  • Bonnie Williams (Housing Justice)
  • Cllr George Dunstall (Haringey Council)

4:00pm – 5:00pm | Premier Inn Liverpool Albert Dock | Warming up? Electrifying home heating (Bright Blue and Thermal Storage UK). Join Bright Blue and Thermal Storage UK as we discuss the technologies for and challenge to the electrification of home heating. Speakers:

  • Ryan Shorthouse (Bright Blue) (Chair)
  • Fiona Harvey (The Guardian)
  • Guy Newey (Energy Systems Catapult)
  • Dr Robert Barthope (University of Sheffield).

4:15pm – 5:30pm | Mersey Suite, Pullman Hotel | Brick by brick: a plan to deliver the social homes we need (Shelter).

4:30pm – 5:30pm | Startup Coalition Tech Hub | Built different: accelerating the decarbonisation of the built environment through tech and innovation (Startup Coalition and Checkatrade). A panel discussion on how the Labour Government can deploy technology to accelerate its Warm Homes Plan, decarbonise the housing stock and empower consumers to lower their energy bills.

4:30pm – 6:00pm | Albert Johnston suite, Novotel Liverpool Centre | Rally for Social Housing (Labour Housing Group)

Speakers:

  • Paula Barker MP
  • Rachel Blake MP
  • David Smith MP
  • Peter Swallow MP
  • Andrew Lewin MP
  • Jenny Riddell- Carpenter MP
  • Luke Murphy MP
  • Ike Mbamali (Prowgress)
  • Mairi MacRae (Shelter)
  • Martin Hilditch (Inside Housing Build Social)
  • Cllr Julie Fadden (Liverpool City Council)
  • Cllr Peray Ahmet (Haringey Council)
  • Mark Slater (Greater Manchester Tenants’ Union)
  • Gordon Johnstone (House Everyone in Liverpool Properly)
  • Jasmine Basran (Crisis)

6:00pm – 7:00pm | Meeting Room 9, Leonardo’s Hotel | Health Inequality and Cold Homes: An evening with Professor Sir Michael Marmot (Friends of the Earth and Institute of Health Equity).

Speakers:

  • Mike Childs (Friends of the Earth) (Chair)
  • Professor Sir Michael Marmot (Institute of Health Equity)

6:00pm – 6:30pm | Arena Room 7, ACC | More than a landlord: How can housing associations help tackle the housing crisis? (SME4Labour and Clarion Housing Association).

Speakers:

  • Clare Miller (Clarion Housing Group)

6:30pm – 8:00pm | Arena Room 9, ACC | Social housing into the next century (West Midlands Housing Association Partnership)

7:00pm – 9:00pm | Imagine, Hilton Hotel | Labour YIMBY: Rally for the Builders (Labour YIMBY and Homes for Britain supported by Britain Remade and LPDF).

Speakers:

  • Cllr Shama Tatler (London Borough of Brent) (Chair)
  • Shreya Nandy (Labour YIMBY)
  • Marc Harris (Labour YIMBY)
  • Chris Curtis MP
  • Dan Tomlinson MP
  • Yuan Yang MP
  • Eve McQuillan (LPDF)
  • Issy Waite (Labour Students)
  • Abdi Duale (Labour NEC)

7:30pm – 9:00pm | The Purpose Coalition Tent, ACC | The Warmer Homes Reception (The Purpose Coalition and E.ON). The Warmer Homes Reception will explore how the new Labour government and business can work in partnership to ensure everyone has the energy security they need.

Monday 23rd September

9:00am – 10:00am | Meeting Room 9, Leonardo Hotel | Where does the Private Rented Sector fit into Labour’s plans for Housing? (Social Market Foundation and Paragon). Labour have made commitments to help tenants in the private rented sector by banning no fault evictions, but what more can be done to raise standards and deliver more homes to address the supply-demand imbalance?

Speakers:

  • Jamie Gollings (Social Market Foundation) (Chair)
  • Nigel Terrington (Paragon Banking Group)
  • Vicky Spratt (The i paper)
  • Gráinne Gilmore (Cluttons)

9:30am – 10:30am | Gallery 2, RIBA North, 21 Mann Island | Delivering high-quality affordable homes? (Royal Institute of British Architects and Peabody). Join RIBA and Peabody alongside an expert panel to discuss how the new Labour government can both build new affordable homes at scale and also deliver good quality homes and sustainable places.

10:00am – 11:00am | Arena Room 7, ACC | Boosting the UK’s Small House Builders (SME4Labour and Federation of Master Builders).

Speakers:

  • Brian Perry (Federation of Master Builders)
  • Sonia Khan MP

11:00am – 11:45am | Meeting Room 11B, ACC | Homes for All: How could Labour support a broad and balanced curriculum? (New Statesman and Nationwide Foundation)

Speakers:

  • Richard Parker (Mayor for the West Midlands)
  • David Orr (Homes for All)
  • Kate Markey (Nationwide Foundation)

12:00pm – 12:50pm | Meeting Room 11B, ACC | How can Labour shape the future of UK housing?

Speakers:

  • Matthew Pennycook MP
  • Meg Hillier MP
  • Satvir Kaur MP
  • David Orr (Homes for All)
  • Kate Markey (Nationwide)
  • Jon Bernstein

12:00pm – 12:45pm | Meeting Room 11C, ACC | How can Labour end the housing crisis? (New Statesman and G15)

Speakers:

  • Fiona Fletcher Smith (G15)

12:30pm – 1:30pm | Meeting Room 10, ACC | Ending blanket bans on pets in privately rented homes: where next? (Mars Petcare and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home)  

Speakers:

  • Lorna Cattling (Mars Petcare)
  • Peter Laurie (Battersea Dogs and Cats Homes)
  • Misa von Tunzelman (Lendlease)

12:30pm – 2:00pm | Grace Suite 3, Hilton Hotel | Impact of Temporary Accommodation on Children (Shared Health Foundation). There are over 145,000 children experiencing homelessness in Temporary Accommodation. Can this government improve conditions for the country’s most vulnerable children and end child homelessness?

Speakers:

  • Siobhain McDonagh MP

12:30pm – 1:30pm | Meeting Room 12, ACC | Labour’s Housing Mission: Delivering Development in Partnership (Planning Futures and Vistry Group).

Speakers:

  • Cian Bryan (Planning Futures) (Chair)
  • Lindsey Richards (RTPI)
  • Andrew Taylor (Vistry Group)
  • Mark Washer (SNG)

12:30pm – 2:00pm | Arena Room 3, ACC | What role can housing associations play in delivering the biggest increase in affordable and social housing in a generation? (National Housing Federation in partnership with Karbon Homes and Guinness Homes).

Speakers:

  • Kate Henderson (NHF)
  • Catriona Simons (Guinness Homes)
  • Charlotte Carpenter (Karbon Homes)

1:00pm – 3:00pm | Princess Suite 3, Crowne Plaza | The Housing Revolution and Devolution: Building 1.5 Million Homes for England (English Labour Network)

Join us at Princess Suite 3 at the Crowne Plaza – Liverpool City Centre for a groundbreaking event on revolutionising housebuilding in England and the implications for devolution in England! We’re bringing together experts, policymakers, and innovators to discuss building 1.5 million homes to address the housing crisis.

Speakers:

  • Brenda Dacres (Mayor of Lewisham)
  • John Denham (former Communities Secretary and English Labour Network Director)
  • Cllr Vince Maple (Medway Council)
  • Graeme Craig (Places for London)
  • Cllr Anthony Okereke (Greenwich Council)
  • Kevin Henson (Gerald Eve)
  • Cllr Shama Tatler (London Borough of Brent)
  • Siddo Dywer (Concilio)
  • Catherine Rose (Concilio)

1:30pm – 2:30pm | Arena Room 10, ACC | What will Labour’s planning reforms mean for workers? (Britain Remade)

Speakers:

  • Sam Richards (Britain Remade)

2:30pm – 3:30pm | Maritime Museum, 4th Floor | The Future for Housing (Fabian Society and Hallam Land management).

Speakers:

  • Matthew Pennycook MP
  • Nick Duckworth (Hallam Land Management)
  • Cllr Sara Hyde (London Borough of Islington)

3:00pm – 4:00pm | 2nd floor, Atlantic Pavilion, Royal Albert Dock | Housing as a driver for growth (Chartered Institute of Housing). Hear from some of the leading voices in housing as we explore the sector’s crucial role in driving inclusive growth.

Speakers:

  • James Prestwich (Chartered Institute of Housing)

3:50pm – 4:50pm | Museum of Liverpool | Getting back to building: a new era for housing delivery (Reform Think Tank and TPXimpact). Government’s plan to get Britain building cannot be driven from Westminster. This panel will explore creating new integrated planning and delivery approaches subnational levels and partnering with businesses and communities to build the housing we need.

Speakers:

  • Dr Simon Kaye (Reform Think Tank)
  • Tracy Brabin (Mayor of West Yorkshire)
  • Peter Foster (Financial Times)
  • Stephen Webb (TPXimpact)

4:00pm – 5:30pm | Liverpool, ACC | Funding homes for social rent: a role for institutional capital: drinks reception (Prowgress)

Speakers:

  • Ike Mbamali (Prowgress)
  • Krista D’Alessandro (Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association)
  • Simon Century (Legal & General Capital)
  • Anthony Breach (Centre for Cities)
  • Cllr Vanisha Solanki (London Borough of Redbridge)

4:30pm – 6:00pm | Arena Room 3, ACC | A fair deal for all new home buyers (New Homes Quality Board). How do we ensure the proposed 1.5 million new homes to be built doesn’t come at the expense of quality?

4:30pm – 5:30pm | The Purpose Coalition Tent, ACC | Later life is for living: how can more homes for our ageing population benefit us all? (The Purpose Coalition and Anchor Hanover). With an estimated need for 50,000 homes for older people to be built each year, increasing supply can help us live independently for longer and free up family-sized homes for younger generations.

4.30pm – 5.30pm | Grace suite 2, Hilton Hotel | Turning houses into homes: a social with serious content (Labour Housing Group). How do we make sure that house and flats provide real homes for the occupants, ones with stability, comfort, affordability, and healthy environments?

Speakers:

  • Rachel Blake MP (chair)
  • Claire Donovan, End Furniture Poverty
  • John Glenton. Riverside Housing

5:00pm – 6:00pm | RIBA Office, RIBA North | How the built environment can deliver regional growth (CIOB, RIBA, RICS and RTPI). This reception provides MPs with an opportunity to find out about the crucial role the built environment plays in reaching net zero, creating vibrant communities and delivering regional growth.

6:00pm – 7:30pm | King’s Suite, Radisson Blu Hotel | Housing Equality: Creating a Housing System That Works For Everyone (Labour Housing Group)

Speakers:

  • Cllr Shreya Nanda (Social Market Foundation) (Chair)
  • Ben Twomey, Generation Rent
  • David Bridson, YMCA
  • Jack Shaw, Labour Housing Group
  • John Greaves, Places for People

6:00pm – 6:50pm | Arent Room 7, ACC | Unlocking Growth in South-East England (SME4Labour, Kanda Consulting)|

Speakers:

  • Jo Dancy (Kanda Consulting) (Chair)
  • Kevin Bonavia MP
  • Cllr Peter Marland (Milton Keynes Council)

7:00pm – 8:00pm | Arena Room 7, ACC | The new Labour Government: unlocking the homes London needs (Kanda Consulting, Royal Haulage Association and SME4Labour).

Speakers:

  • Ibrahim Dogus (SME4Labour) (Chair)
  • Karen Alcock (Kanda Consulting)
  • Tom Copley (GLA)
  • Cllr Shama Tatler (London Borough of Brent)
  • Graeme Craig (Places for London)

7:30pm – 8:30pm | Arena Room 5, ACC | Better Vision for Temporary Accommodation: Policy Launch (Justlife) . The event will discuss policy changes, shaped by the homelessness sector and people with lived experience, we believe would help build a future where experiences in TA are short, safe and healthy.

Tuesday 24th September

8:30am – 10:00am | Skills Hub, ACC | The Big Construction Debate (CECA, CPA, ACE, FMB, BMF). The environment in which we live and work is at a turning point. With ambitious housing targets to meet, a looming net zero deadline and a pressing need to develop the next generation of builders, how will we deliver a sustainable tomorrow?

9:00am – 9:45am | Meeting Room 11C, ACC | How Can a Labour Government Tackle the Housing Crisis and Get Britain Building Again? (New Statesman and Natwest Group).

10:30am – 12:00pm | Arena Room 10, ACC | Keeping Britain Warm While Saving Cash and Carbon: Delivering on Labour’s Net Zero Goals in the Home (Labour Climate and Environment Forum, EDF). How can a Labour government deliver on its net zero goals and ensure that people in the UK have affordable access to making their homes safe and warm?

Speakers:

  • Megan Corton Scott (LCEF)
  • Miatta Fanbulleh MP
  • Kieron Williams (Southwark Council)
  • Adam Scorer (National Energy Action)
  • Clare Moriarty (Citizens Advice)
  • Richard Hughes (EDF)

10:30am – 12:00pm | Meeting Room 4A, ACC |Sustainable Housing Forum: Creating Affordable Homes and Reducing Fuel Poverty (Thakeham). Labour is promising to deliver the biggest boost to affordable housing in a generation. Join the conversation on the holistic approach to affordable housing creation, fuel poverty reduction, and community building.

12:30pm – 1:30pm | Meeting Room 11A, ACC | The Road to Building 1.5m Homes (Labour Housing Group).

Speakers:

  • Cllr John Cotton (Birmingham City Council) (Chair)
  • Kate Henderson (National Housing Federation)
  • Mark Powell (EDAROTH)
  • Paul Brocklehurst (Land, Planning and Development Federation)
  • Dominic Armstrong, Community Union

1:00pm – 2:00pm | Meeting Room 4, Premier Meetings Liverpool Albert Dock | Will Labour’s Plans to Unlock the Planning System Really “Get Britain Building”? (City & Country)

Speakers:

  • Liz Hamson (BE News)
  • Chris Vince MP
  • Josh Dean MP
  • Michael Shanks MP

2:30pm – 4:00pm | Albert 3, Hilton Hotel | Citizen Panels: the YIMBY answer to better consultation? – Policy Launch and Drinks Reception (LGH Fabians & Leeds Building Society)

Speakers:

  • Chris Worrall (LGH Fabians) (Chair)
  • Cllr Shama Tatler (London Borough of Brent)
  • Tim Leunig (Public First)
  • Richard Fearon (Leeds Building Society)
  • Gemma Gallant (Iceni Projects)

3:00pm – 4:00pm | Meeting Room 4, Albert Dock Premier Inn | How Labour can solve the housing crisis in a sustainable way (Structural Timber Association)

Speakers:

  • Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent, Sky News (Chair)
  • Naushabah Khan MP, Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham
  • Mike Reader MP, Member of Parliament for Northampton South
  • Andrew Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer, Structural Timber Association
  • Branwen Evans, Group Director, Sustainability and Policy, Places for People

3:30pm – 4:15pm | Meeting Room 11C, ACC | Getting Onto the Property Ladder: How Could a Labour Government Support First Time Buyers? (New Statesman and Santander)

3:30pm – 4:30pm | Progressive Britain Hub, ACC | Reigniting the Homeownership Dream: Listening to the Voice of First Time Buyers (Progressive Britain and Moneybox). Join us for a dynamic event with Moneybox, home of the largest community of aspiring first time buyers in the UK, as they launch their Voice of First Time Buyers White Paper, sharing findings and insights from the report and discussing policy recommendations for the Labour government.

4:00pm – 5:00pm | Arena Room 6, ACC | How Can the Government Make Sure It Delivers the Houses Britain Needs? (Institute for Government & Thakeham).

Speakers:

  • Nehal Davison (Institute for Government) (Chair)
  • Rob Boughton (Thakeham)
  • Sophie Metcalfe (Institute for Government)
  • Dan Tomlinson MP

5:00pm – 6:00pm | Progressive Britain Hub, ACC | A New Generation of Social Housing? (Progressive Britain, Inside Housing and JRF). Labour will build 1.5m new homes this Parliament. How does it make sure those least able to afford a home have access to one, and can build a foundation for a better life. Join Matthew Pennycook MP, Housing Minister and other panellists to discuss. Wine, beer and soft drinks available

Speakers:

  • Matthew Pennycook MP
  • Darren Baxter (JRF)
  • Bronwen Rapley (Homes for the North)
  • Kieron Williams (Southwark Council)
  • Kath Swindells (Inside Housing)

Exhibition:

ECL Building:

B11: The Property Institute

The Property Institute (TPI) is the professional body for residential property managers in Britain, facilitating safer managed property communities. It actively supports its members to continually improve building management standards through OFQUAL-accredited professional qualifications, ongoing professional development and auditing of firms, and it is calling for regulation of property agents to ensure people’s homes are managed competently, safely, and ethically.

C7: Crisis

Crisis is the national charity for people facing homelessness. By working together, we can build a future free from homelessness. Visit us to understand homelessness in your area and the solutions needed so that everyone has a home, including more about our work with our partners Lloyds Banking Group.

C20: IKEA and Shelter

IKEA and housing and homelessness charity, Shelter, have formed a long-term partnership to defend the one thing we value most: home. Together, our aim is to ensure that by 2030, half a million people have access to a better life at home, by building 90,000 new social homes a year.

D2: Retirement Housing Group

The Retirement Housing Group is a membership body representing organisations providing all types of retirement housing. Established in 1995, it is the only body of its type. Retirement housing provides a solution for older people looking for more assistance. However, numerous restraints mean the UK does not build enough housing suitable for its ageing population. The RHG aims to improve affordable housing choices for the growing number of older people.

G5: Propertymark

Propertymark is the UK’s leading professional body for property agents. We campaign to raise standards for consumers who are renting, buying and selling property as well as amongst professionals working in the sector. Visit us to discuss and learn about the reforms needed to solve the housing crisis.

G20: Wates

As the UK’s leading family-owned development, building and property maintenance company, we have a proud legacy in the built environment. We know that the places where we live, work and play influence every aspect of our lives. In 2024, we entered our 127th year of business. Over the decades we have developed and maintained the resilience to survive and grow despite the many economic and geopolitical challenges we have ffaced. In the face of today’s environmental and social pressures, we know the built environment must do more. It can help unlock people’s potential, improve health and wellbeing, and shape future prospects. We are driven by our purpose of reimagining places for people to thrive.

ACC Building

AC10: Homelesslink

AC20 Thakeham

Thakeham, a sustainable placemaker, focuses on biodiversity and zero carbon hoes by 2025. Their homes include solar panels, heat pumps, EV chargers, and rainwater harvesting. Thakeham leads in UK community creation, integrating schools, healthcare, sports, and community-run amenities, emphasising community well-being and a sense of belonging.