This is the north

It’s the region that brought us Blackpool rock and Eccles cake. It spent the last decade recasting its image with glittering architectural and cultural gems including Gateshead’s Sage Centre and Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North. And through the region’s market renewal pathfinders and the innovative thinking of its social landlords, housing has played a significant role in reinventing the north while maintaining the best of that region’s traditions.

But 2010 brings new challenges. The recession may be over officially, but the spending squeeze is in the post.

Questions hang over the pathfinders’ futures, the region is home to more older people than elsewhere in England and lack of affordable housing is creating headaches across the board. In this special focus, experts in all these fields explain the challenges ahead.

Other professionals reveal how northern housing providers are responding to the localism agenda, bound to gain further prominence ahead of this year’s general election and beyond. We crunch the development numbers to see what difference the recent shot in the arm of Homes and Communities Agency kick-start cash will make to getting development going in the north. And we consider what other sources of funding landlords can tap into as the purse strings tighten in the year ahead. This is the north for a new decade.

Localism - Robin Lawler

Chief executive, Northwards Housing, Manchester, and chair, policy and practice board, Chartered Institute of Housing

‘People are trying to work out at a local level what localism means for them. It’s being coined as a new term, but a number of us have been working at a local level for some time. It will be interesting to see how far the new government is prepared to delegate to local authorities and their partners, and will any new resources come with that? It’s going to be tighter over the next few years.

‘Because we’re an arm’s-length management organisation, localism has been part of the agenda since we were created four years ago. So I don’t suppose [whatever happens after the next election] will make very much difference. We already work with our strategic partners across Manchester, including the police, education authorities and so on. So we’re very much rooted in our local communities, seeking to engage people and support wider regeneration on our patch.

‘We have a strong strategic housing partnership in Manchester, working across housing in the city. There are four work streams below the strategic housing partnership. I chair the worklessness group which is looking at housing’s contribution to tackling worklessness in the city.

‘The new Manchester city region, established in December, gives greater power to 10 local authorities. There are a whole range of pilots being put in place for a range of issues. It’s clearly early days, but we are starting to align with those structures.’

Regeneration - Mike Gahagan

Chair, Transform South Yorkshire

‘England’s nine housing market renewal pathfinders - seven of which are located in the north east, north west, Yorkshire and The Humber - have been successful. ‘We have enhanced the lives of thousands of families, improved dozens of neighbourhoods, generally met or exceeded our targets and encouraged local authorities and others to take the sub-regional view of regeneration which, in the past, has so often been missing.

‘Don’t take my word for it, read the Audit Commission’s reports. These have correctly identified areas for improvement by each pathfinder but have concluded, overall, that the pathfinders have been effective and have laid the foundations for future work with the Homes and Communities Agency.

‘The word “foundation” is important. The causes of deprivation in the priority neighbourhoods of Transform South Yorkshire, as elsewhere, have existed over decades and will not be eradicated in the six years of our existence. We have completed the groundwork with our communities, our local authorities and the private sector. But the job is far from finished: we can’t afford to waste the efforts to marry community support with long-term investment in favour of partial and piecemeal solutions.

‘This, as Michael Parkinson, director of the European Institute for Urban Affairs, has recently pointed out, will not be easy.

‘The pathfinders, however, are in a strong position. We are all evolving to meet the needs of our areas; we have all established good links with the private sector, essential if the most is to be made of every pound, and, in the HCA, we have a constructive funder.’

Finance - Neil Waller

Banking and finance partner, Trowers and Hamlins, Manchester

‘There are three key trends in the north. First, you’ve got a number of housing associations that are looking to do things structurally, for example do an amalgamation or do [other] things that require lender consent. Previously they just weren’t doing them because they were worried about repricing issues, whereas now they’re at least approaching lenders with proposals. The obstacles that were there in terms of corporate activity are beginning to thaw.

‘Second, in the past few months a lot of associations have been looking to raise finance. Previously they were holding back chiefly based on the fact organisations didn’t want to start renegotiating existing deals. One of the key drivers for this is uncertainty about continued availability of [state development funding].

‘Third, we’re seeing a lot of associations looking at the Homes and Communities Agency’s kick-start programme.’

Homelessness: focus on Leeds - Dot Greaves

Business development officer, Leeds Action to Create Homes

‘It has been known for 600 people to apply for one property through Leeds Council. There has been a massive increase in ‘landlordism’ in the area with private landlords having overtaken the local authority to become the main provider of housing.

‘When renting to students, a landlord can charge £60 to £80 pounds a week per room - that’s a good income, but it puts local people at a disadvantage.

‘Leeds Action to Create Homes is a voluntary sector organisation providing housing and support to people at risk of homelessness, which takes on derelict and disused properties leased to us by the council. Recently, however, we have not been able to get hold of houses.

‘Without more social housing, it is hard for the people we work with to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.

‘They cannot afford to be employed, as they are unable to afford market rents, particularly in private accommodation. Developers have thrown up lots of luxury apartments in Leeds, so while there are plenty of properties the people we work with can’t afford live in them.’

Ageing population - Charlotte Harrison

Policy and strategy director, Northern Housing Consortium

An ageing population is an issue across the country, but it is perhaps a bigger issue for the north than for the rest of England. The north has a higher proportion of people aged 60 and above than other areas - 22.8 per cent, in comparison to the 22.4 per cent average for England as a whole.

‘Over the next decade the percentage of older people in the north east, north west and Yorkshire and the Humber is expected to reach 24.5 per cent, while the average for the country creeps up to 24 per cent. Although the percentage increase is not out of kilter with the rest of the country, we think that the health of the ageing population in the north is a problem.

‘The Northern Housing Consortium held a series of consultation events with more than 400 older people throughout 2009 to find out what they thought of this. They said they accept that their physical ability will decline, but they need support to maintain their mental well-being in order to be able to deal with this. They did not want to feel isolated, and they wanted to be able to be part of their communities - this is where housing’s role in shaping neighborhoods comes to the fore.’

Development - Geoff White

Head of public policy and communications in the north east, Yorkshire & Humberside and the north west, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

‘The north of England has clearly been hit harder by the recession than the south east and we expect its effects to be deeper and longer.

‘Housing starts were badly affected, especially on mixed use schemes led by residential development, but evidence shows the downturn in housing bottomed out at the end of 2008 and started to rise again in 2009. There has been further improvement in the past six months.

‘It’s nowhere near full steam ahead but the HCA’s kick-start housing delivery scheme has been a big help. While 2009 was perhaps not as bleak as it was forecast, many builders needed help from the government’s homebuy direct shared equity scheme to achieve targets.

‘The RICS Housing Market Survey shows that sales enquiries are picking up and Easter will be a key time when surveyors usually see a significant change in the market - but expectations for values is that they will rise between 1 to 2 per cent this year and that the recovery will be slow.

‘Looking ahead there are major concerns, with uncertainty over the election and the proposed cuts in public sector funding which could scupper any real recovery in 2010.

‘Shared equity schemes are going to be essential and action needs to be taken over mortgage finance, which is not getting easier.

‘Lenders are still taking a very cautious approach to sale price/value ratios and would-be buyers are struggling to raise deposits. While this will slow down sales, it is likely to be good news for the rented sector.’

Anti-social behaviour - John Stevenson

Head of community safety, Places for People

‘Our officers working in inner city areas of Manchester, in particular, and also Leeds and Bradford, deal with a high number of nuisance cases, but I can’t say there any glaring issues that make me think we need to handle anti-social behaviour differently across our geographical spread.

‘At Places for People, we find that obtaining court injunctions, often with a power of arrest attached, is a fast and effective way of handling the more serious cases. In addition we use restorative justice techniques where we bring parties together face to face in order to resolve their issues before they become entrenched.’

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