Size Matters : High Density Housing

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Size Matters High Density Housing

• Inge Kettner

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Inge Kettner

• Price Waterhouse (senior manager)
• Robson Rhodes (audit partner)
• Orbit Housing Group (finance director, 1996 -
  2000)
• Whitefriars Housing Group (finance then
  performance director, 2000 2007)
• NHF finance committee (6 years)

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My assertion

• The current approach to social housing is
• Being messed up by conflicting policies
• Obsessed with short-term
• A disaster waiting to happen

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Social housing client group

• Not a lot of spare cash
• Customers often have little choice
• Faced with shortage of good quality supply
• People and families

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A good place to live

• Health services
• Transport links
• Shops
• Schools
• Water
• Community
• Low crime (or fear of)

• Employment
• Space
• Study
• Recreation
• Friends
• Release valve

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A bad place to live

• Unemployment
• ASB
• Crime
• Poor health
• Noise
• Poor access to services
• Leads to poor aspirations

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Its about human enjoyment and lifestyleIts
what we call sustainable communities
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Does anybody disagree?
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Issues

• Under occupation
• Infrastructure
• Space standards
• Award winners
• Conflicting policies

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Under occupation

• Buy to let/buy to invest
• 20 40 empty
• Older tenants
• Family moved out
• Why a right to stay
• Housing benefit impact
• Allocations policies (the spare room)
• Cultural issues
• Need a mix on estates

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Infrastructure

• Why concentrate building on areas already under
  pressure
• Why ignore whats good
• 80 live on 10 of the land in England

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Space standards (1)

• Owner occupiers that spare room again
• Our customers
• Benefit issues
• Prams and bikes
• Allocation policies bedrooms
• Study space
• Kitchen table
• Family breakdown

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Space standards (2)(www.policy.exchange.org.uk)
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Award winners

• A bandwagon or a poisoned chalice
• How many award winners of yesterday are todays
  demolitions

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Conflicting policies (1)

• Short term view (next election)
• Too political (votes not people, sound bites
  rather than reality)
• Quantity (build more for less)
• Housing providers asked to do too much for too
  little (constant squeeze)
• Quality has suffered (and will continue)
• Public sector land (obsession with best price)

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Conflicting policies (2)

• Eco friendly
• Recognise the cost (3-5k)
• Be realistic
• Family electricity 4.5m turbine/40 sq m solar
  cells
• Heating schemes 200 units

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Solutions (1)

• Need some hard policy decisions based on coherent
  thinking
• Move away from the pressure areas
• Spread housing more evenly
• Public/quasi public land release

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Solutions (2)

• Change rules on under occupation
• Sort out the issues on the existing stock
• Abolish the right to buy
• Build for quality

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Solutions (3)

• Look at the total package
• Dont ignore what is good
• Learn from the past
• Dont be overrun by new build egos

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Solutions (4)

• There is a shortage of good quality affordable
  housing but
• ..cramming as many people as possible into as
  small a space as possible is not the answer!

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What do you think?