Housing Policy and Community Cohesion A Practitioners View

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Housing Policy and Community CohesionA
Practitioners View

• Mushtaq Khan

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Presentation Outline

• The Big Issues
• Case Study 1 - Northern Town
• Case Study 2 - An inner London borough
• Current Policy Responses
• Challenges

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Is it about this
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Or this?
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Or are we actually dealing with this?
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Economic Context

• Single most pressing issue is the credit crunch
• Falling house prices, although still out of the
  reach of many
• Growth in public spending expected to be 1.2
  down from 1.8, Govt looking for major efficiency
  savings
• Increasing unemployment

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Political Context

• Housing Reform Green Paper due
• Current focus of Housing Minister is on supply
  and dealing with repossessions
• Hills Report - social housing tenants more likely
  to be out of work, and will have difficulty
  getting back into work
• Is it fair?

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Social Context

• Demographics increasingly difficult to predict in
  terms of EC communities -some Eastern Europeans
  leaving
• Smaller households
• Ageing population (except where minority
  populations exist)
• Residential segregation still exists especially
  in the big cities and northern towns
• Segregation in terms of ethnicity and income (and
  class)

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The housing context in Oldham

• Dysfunctional Market
• Over-supply of pre-1919 terraced property
• Shortage of larger affordable properties
• Overcrowding
• Housing offer does not meet economic aspirations
• Poor private housing sector stock
• Availability of council housing is low
• Segregated communities

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Balancing the Housing Market in Oldham

• Increase supply but
• More high value homes as well as
• More affordable homes
• Increase number of properties which have 3
  bedrooms
• Improve access to social housing
• Give people more quality and choice

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Housing Context in Lambeth

• High population churn
• Very high demand for housing
• High levels of homelessness and use of temporary
  accommodation
• Tackling worklessness is the councils main aim
• What role does housing play in this?

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Lambeth - one key issue

• 89 of homeless households in temporary
  accommodation are from minority backgrounds
• 80 of homeless households in temporary
  accommodation are headed by a lone parent
• 83 of households in temporary accommodation are
  in receipt of Housing Benefit
• Average length of stay is over two years
• Can we let this continue?

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Lambeth - Policy Response

• Major increase in supply
• Tackle worklessness
• Give people realistic advice and options -
  housing and employment advice at the same time
• Make private sector renting more attractive
• Encourage mixed communities

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Whats this to do with community cohesion?

• Local leadership
• Place shaping
• Partners working together - through local
  strategic partnerships
• Tailoring services without causing separateness

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Challenges

• Do we really understand demographics and housing
  markets
• Where do we bring in debates about worklessness?
• How can we get people to move away from a
  dependency on council housing?
• Is it about class as much as ethnicity?
• Current economic climate poses great challenges

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