£100bn Pitch For National Housing Fund

The drastic shortage of housing among working people could be plugged with a government-backed National Housing Fund of £100 billion over 10 years, providing up to 75,000 extra new homes a year, a report by the independent think tank ResPublica has found. The number of new homes totalled only 143,500 last year – 56,500 less than the 200,000 needed each year over this Parliament to hit the government’s own targets. In its report, Going to scale: How a National Housing Fund can unlock Britain’s housebuilding capacity, ResPublica argues that the private sector will only build at the pace that it can sell but if the Government acted as a guaranteed buyer of new homes then confidence would grow and supply increase. Read more on 24housing.

Report Says £140m Saved By ‘Rescuing’ Council Estates

New research finds government plans for estate regeneration risk a north-south divide – leaving deprived communities beyond London behind. In a study of 122 estates around the country, think tank ResPublica found the government’s approach to regeneration will not help poorer communities where house prices are too low to attract investment, and where building new homes will not overcome the problems of long-term deprivation. The government has made available just £140m for regeneration of 100 estates.  ResPublica’s study found more funding could be made available, as improving employment outcomes in just 12 well-known estates could generate government savings to the tune of at least £140m by 2030. Download the report from the ResPublica website.

Private Renters Increase While Home Ownership Flat Lines

More people are renting their homes from private landlords than ever before, says a detailed new report on ownership in Britain over the last thirty years. It reveals that thirty years ago 61% of the UK’s households owned their own home. The number increased through the 1990s but dropped off from the year 2000 and stands once again at 61%, says the report, Unfinished Business The Ownership Agenda, thirty Years On, published by the independent think tank ResPublica. The main shift in the ownership of the UK’s housing stock is around rented accommodation, with the number of households renting from private landlords doubling in thirty years. In 1985 30% of households rented from public landlords, and 9% from private landlords. Today the emphasis has changed, with 22% renting from private landlords and 9% from public. Read more on the ResPublica website.

Getting To the Nub of the Housing Crisis

ResPublica launched their latest policy paper 'Devo Home: A double devolution of housing to people and places' recently. At the heart of the report is a proposal for new ‘Local Place Partnerships’ (LPPs). These bodies will act as ‘dedicated institutions’ designed to provide the necessary focus to ‘recast local authorities as coordinators of development’ and ultimately promote swift delivery. The principles underpinning LPPs are consistent with the characteristic emphasis placed by ResPublica on institutional reform as a way of generating change. Their remit will encompass place-making and enforcing cooperation across local authority boundaries.  Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.

'Social Landlords Should Deliver the Work Programme'

A new report has called on policy-makers to hand power to local community intermediaries such as social landlords and voluntary organisations to determine and deliver the range of employment-related services within their communities. Think tank ResPublica's 'Responsible Recovery: A social contract for local growth' argues that the ‘community right to challenge’ should be extended to welfare and employment services in order to "save" the Government’s welfare reform agenda.  The report calls upon housing associations to use their assets for wider neighbourhood benefit, engage in active partnerships around community budgeting, and support and facilitate asset transfers and devolved services, including employment and training support.  Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.

Localism Will Fail Unless Government and Housing Providers Get Joined Up

The Government's localism agenda will fail unless the current disconnection between housing associations and Westminster is overcome, a new report has warned.  Right-leaning think tank ResPublica's report - Acting on Localism: The role of housing associations in driving a community agenda - argues that government can meet local needs by harnessing the power of HAs.  HAs "already contribute an annual investment of £756 million to community and neighbourhood activities. Whilst many communities by themselves do not have the resources to take up the opportunities created by the Localism Act - such as community rights, budgetary challenge and neighbourhood planning powers - HAs can act as vital capacity-builders and vehicles for community ambition".  Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.

Think-tank Calls for 'Biggest Housing Transfer to Poor since Right to Buy'

Plans for a £90 billion asset transfer to poor families - the biggest since Margaret Thatcher’s sell-off of council houses in the 1980s – are outlined in a new report from a leading think-tank. ResPublica urges Ministers to embrace a sweeping transfer of ownership from the public sector to community groups and co-operatives. The report, At the Crossroads: Progressive Future for Housing Associations, sets out a raft of policy ideas which would overhaul the ownership, management and operation of the country’s 1,200 housing associations, which own over two million homes. Download a copy of the report from the ResPublica website.