No, Minister! Don’t ask the Big Guys to help.
BRIEFING NOTE #6
This is a series of briefing notes to yet another new housing minister. Here are some dangers to avoid, some well-trodden paths to be bypassed, and some barriers to thinking that need to be overcome (if we are serious about bringing about change).….and, oh yes, here are some thoughts on how to deliver this change! Please stick around long enough to make it happen.
The government has a problem mountain to climb. The subject is so big and wide-reaching, it needs to be broken down into problem molehills that will be easier to talk about and overcome. The nature and scale of the problem is also multi-faceted and is dominated by the BIG DEVELOPER MODEL - the favoured housing delivery system in recent decades, characterised as follows:
Agency for change lies in fewer big players
Financial model driven by big capital and is land value-driven with a limited range of tenures and entry points to market
Housing is limited in bandwidth to solving the problems of accommodation alone.
High density/low family in central areas and low density/high family on the periphery as part of a ‘Big Architecture’ solution
Form of development is driven by exclusivity (closed and isolated) with a typically, homogeneous/single use market that focuses on individual rights
The ‘scheme’ determines brand identity with change driven by the ‘big bang’/wow factor
We need a NEIGHBOURHOOD ENABLING MODEL, a powerful new initiative by government, to unlock the potential of homes in the country and scale up many small-scale development opportunities to build great urban neighbourhoods from the bottom-up. The model is characterised as follows:
Agency for change lies in many smaller players operating locally
Financial model driven by land management approaches that are social purpose-driven (locally) with a mixed and flexible range of tenures and entry points to market
Housing has a wider bandwidth where it plays a much greater role in contributing to dealing with wider issues, such as mental health, social care, youth crime, and social development
More medium density/high family solutions in central areas/periphery with form driven by inclusivity (open and connected) using plot-based/ fine-grain approaches
Socially diverse/mixed use market with the focus on collective benefits
The ‘neighbourhood’ determines brand identity with change driven by many small progressive changes
We need to keep housing supply (private and social) steady and rely on the current system to at least deliver what is being delivered today, whilst we work on improving some of the formal delivery mechanisms that are in place today.
We must rapidly implement the NEIGHBOURHOOD ENABLING MODEL and bring together other programmes in a single coherent strategy to deliver the ambitions of this approach. That is why we run both systems in parallel at the start and that they come together later in a single coherent strategy as the systems evolve.