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Housing’s coming home

There are parallels between England’s World Cup performance and UK housing’s ability to deliver changes in supply, says Stephen Teagle

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You would be forgiven for thinking there are parallels between the performance of the England Football team and the ability of Housing UK to deliver the step change in supply we all need. Both involve travelling more in hope than expectation. Both have a cunning game plan and a vision of tomorrow. And occasional flashes of success, the emergence of new players and the launch of an exciting new initiative from the latest management generate a lot of enthused commentary.

But before long, inevitably the dark clouds of reality set in. After another decade of investment, hope and promise we are nowhere near Barker’s magic 250,000 homes per year; we have performed woefully compared to competitor nations who have less resources and we are left with the empty nostalgia of recalling the golden age of Bobby Moore, mass Council Housing and cranes jostling for space above our cities to the sound of the swinging 60’s. It was once all so promising…

Like football, those of us with an eye on housing supply, cannot resist hoping; we have an accurate idea of what’s needed; we just cannot use the current tools to convert that into reality. And now we have the added headwind of lowered political expectation- it has gone on for so long, it has become what all voters expect. Why fight the NIMBY corner when we are unlikely to really make a difference. Keep the numbers rolling but as for a generational step-change to really tackle the deficit in supply- no chance.  

Perhaps this explains why strong political words are often diluted by a lack of real commitment when the Treasury’s anonymous equivalent of Sepp Blatter gets involved: The public at large never quite expected anything else. Housing has shot up the agenda according to the latest IPSOS-MORI survey but as Stuart Macdonald argues in a canny analysis later this week at the Ideas Exchange, this needs to be converted through links that make politicians sit up and become avid supporters of Housing UK.

We need to encourage politicians to go beyond announcements of great schemes to show leadership, resolve and -here’s the trick- make explicit the links to all the other concerns heard on the doorsteps, in the pubs and down the park. Instead of lowering expectations we should all be playing to the highest common denominator. Housing for health. Housing for jobs. Housing for economic growth.

Gathering momentum around our own HS1- Housing Supply One – an initiative that would join up our top 20 cities (yes often footballing cities!) with a common focus on new homes would be a great start. Planning rules, fiscal incentives, loan and grant finance could concentrate the minds of both the private and public sectors. RPs, local authorities and responsible developers- and I’m lucky enough to work for one- have business plans and capacity that can deliver growth in numbers.

Coming into the next election we have a chance to lobby for investment, financial and planning freedoms needed. All the analysis shows great football teams take a decade to build. If we can embed housing in the minds of politicians for the next election, we just might see the next world cup from a new perspective.

Stephen Teagle is the managing director of affordable housing and regeneration at Galliford Try

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STEPHEN TEAGLE
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