Real opportunities

Last Wednesday saw the launch of the third report Genesis has sponsored with the Smith Institute. Past collaborations have looked at the challenges of supporting an ageing population and the evolving purpose of housing associations, and for this year’s offering, Pricing Londoners In, Not Out, we chose a topic no less weighty or divisive: how to tackle London’s housing crisis in the most effective way.

Housing associations are acutely aware of the part we need to play in delivering new homes where Londoners from all walks of life can afford to live, not just the capital’s highest earners. However, it can be guesswork and chance which govern the precise locations of that new supply.

Given the strains on public funding and resources, we urgently need to get sharper and more strategic on this.

Housing was suitably prominent in this year’s Autumn Statement, and while £3.1bn being devolved down to London is great news, the risk is that it will be spent in a way which doesn’t fully deliver on the sector’s ambitions unless there is clarity about where the real opportunity areas for development of new and affordable housing lie. 

“We urgently need to get sharper and more strategic.”

The Smith Institute’s report helps to deliver that, as well as revealing some uncomfortable truths. Now we all know that a person earning London’s median average income of around £30,000 is priced out of housing in the capital, full stop.

The impact of this is substantial – not just on individuals and families, but also on social cohesion, economic growth and the cost of services provided by statutory bodies to try to cope with the consequences.

There are areas where that gap can be filled – and filled quickly. Places like Barking & Dagenham and Barnet are very much the opportunity areas for housing. Genesis works in both boroughs – and we’re eager to do more.

Our own corporate strategy target is to build 5,000 new homes by 2020 right across our footprint, not just in the central London boroughs. 

Genesis has positive partnerships in place with many London boroughs: Barnet, where we are partners at Grahame Park, delivering 5,600 homes by 2022; Hackney, where we are a regeneration partner at Woodberry Down, and most recently at Old Oak Common, where we are delivering 600 new homes within the cross-borough Opportunity Area.

The mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme guidance provides a crucial backdrop for associations like Genesis to work on a pan–London basis and contribute the new homes the capital so desperately requires. The challenge is to be creative in making sure we reach and sustain an appropriate affordable product offer.

Over the last few years, London’s direction of supply has been due east, mainly because of the relative cost of land. Pricing Londoners In, Not Out provides real, tangible data beyond land costs on which we can base investment decisions in the London context. 

Our hope is that this report will aid future conversations and enable us all to work together to get Londoners back on the ladder.

Neil Hadden, chief executive, Genesis