UKREiiF Dispatch: what success looks like for housing
Rayner shares her housing success measures and challenges mayors and councils to build, build, build.
Better comms for people, places and work
This week, we’re sharing daily updates from UKREiiF, the UK’s biggest event focused on property, investment and regeneration.
We hope it helps our contacts stay connected to some of the discussion points. Our regular Dispatch returns on 6 June.
As ever, we hope you find our newsletter useful. If you have thoughts or suggestions on what you’d like us to cover in the future, let us know in the comments or get in touch.
Delivering on growth: what success looks like for housing
Now’s the time to deliver, so get on and build, build, build.
Angela Rayner’s keynote speech to built environment professionals at UKREiiF yesterday (20 May) laid out a challenge to a sector which is key to the government’s growth ambitions.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s pledge to deliver a ‘stretching’ commitment of 1.5 million new homes in England before the end of the decade is well aired.
A raft of policy changes around devolution, planning reform, support for new towns and investment in social housing are geared towards this aim.
But, beyond the numbers, what will success look like in a few years? And why does it matter if we achieve it, or not?
Although her speech was light on specifics for those who follow housing discussions closely, Rayner set out some indicators in her speech to delegates.
“Firstly, if we get more and more homes – in every part of the country, including here in West Yorkshire - built long into the future too. We can't just ramp-up housebuilding over the next few years.
“Secondly, if more people have a home they can afford. And we bring crippling costs down.
“Thirdly, if we’re ensuring all homes are safe, secure and warm. And we’re driving down bills for working people.
“And finally, if we’re tackling the shameful homelessness crisis that is destroying the life chances of so many.”
National ambition, local delivery
Long-lasting, plentiful, affordable. We look forward to working with clients and their partners to deliver this ambition.
The cost of failure, as Sir Michael Lyons indicated in a keynote address about the government’s plans to build several new towns, is stark for those affected.
Twenty eight per cent of aduls aged between 20 and 34 still lived with their parents in 2023, Sir Michael told delegates, a vivid example of a ‘broken promise’ to a generation.
Turning this around requires local commitment and leadership from mayors and combined authorities in places like the West of England. The region, which includes Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset, is tasked along with other combined authorities to deliver a spatial plan outlining destinations for new homes and transport investment in the coming decades.
The West of England doesn’t have a happy history of spatial planning, as its Combined Authority chief executive Stephen Peacock acknowledged in a morning address.
The challenge locally in making things happen is as much about bringing people and businesses with you on the journey as it is in creating the opportunities to invest.
For all of the talk at UKREiiF in the coming days about big opportunities and mega deals, putting in the hard yards to make a noticeable difference on the ground matters too.
Not as exciting as heading grabbing investments, it’s true. But if people remain on housing waiting lists and stuck at the mercy of ‘rural quality bus services’ at the end of the decade, Angela Rayner’s success measures will sound hollow to many people by the decade’s end.
“The public doesn’t get [us], and that’s not their fault,” said Stephen when speaking about the 30% voter turnout in the recent election for West of England mayor.
That gets to the heart of the challenge for local mayors.
If they are going to build confidence and support for their measures, they must invest time and energy in taking communities with them.
Arianne shared thoughts about the collaboration challenge facing local leaders in our last newsletter. Tackling this would give them a much greater chance of meeting Rayner’s success measures.
As she told the hall, it’s time to crack on.
Connect with us at UKREiiF
It’s been great catching up with people here and we’re looking forward to hearing more updates from places and industry leaders.
If you’re in Leeds and want to catch up, of if you’d like to share or discuss anything, please leave a comment drop us a line.