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Anthony is a Senior Analyst in the research team at Centre for Cities, where he is the lead on housing and planning.
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The Thinkhouse review: how housing researchers have responded to COVID-19
Anthony Breach takes a look at the learning about the pandemic that recent housing research provides, along with potential solutions to guide the rebuilding effort.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing great uncertainty and disruption around the planet, including to the UK’s housing sector.
But housing researchers are already stepping up to the task they face. New evidence and research has been crunched, even as we begin to emerge from lockdown into a changed world. They are providing insight into the short-term issues that are affecting renters and those at risk of homelessness, as well as solutions for how we can build back better from the crisis with new housing supply and fundamental reform.
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Wendy Wilson at the House of Commons library published two briefing papers in May. One, written with Hannah Cromarty, looks at the eviction protections and the emergency response for rough sleepers that have accompanied the pandemic. It is an excellent summary of the changes to the law since the start of the year, and outlines the resources and actions central and local government have already committed to help renters, landlords, owner-occupiers and rough sleepers.
The paper mentions the idea of cancelling rent arrears. While this may sound attractive to some renters, Ms Wilson focuses on the unintended consequences. Referring to a Housing, Communities, and Local Government Committee report published on the same day, she says cancelling rent outright would hurt the ability of social landlords to make repairs and build more homes, as well as put undue pressure on smaller landlords.
Instead, the committee and Ms Wilson point to Spain for a solution, where the government has introduced interest-free loans to cover rent arrears.
Ms Wilson’s other paper, with Cassie Barton, is about how homelessness policy and data have changed since the new duty for local authorities was introduced in 2018. Previously, local authorities only had a duty to secure accommodation for members of “priority need” groups, such as survivors of domestic violence. This duty was expanded to cover both emergency relief and prevention for everyone at risk of homelessness.
Alongside the soon-to-be-abolished Section 21 evictions, the housing shortage is identified as a major cause of homelessness. The lack of supply results in high housing costs and increased risk of homelessness, especially in the most prosperous and therefore high-demand cities such as London.
This underlying problem is why, as Shelter is quoted as saying in the paper, “legislation alone cannot solve homelessness”. Despite local authorities’s new duty to prevent homelessness, 11 per cent of new rough sleepers in 2018-19 in London had asked a local authority for assistance before ultimately sleeping rough.
To tackle the problem of long-term supply in expensive places, a new report from the G15 group of London housing associations argues that we need “Homes for Heroes” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing mainly on the capital, the report argues for the creation of 100,000 low-cost homes prioritised for key workers and the purchase of more than 32,000 unsold and under-construction homes in London by the public sector and housing associations. It also provides modelling on rental affordability for public sector workers.
Correctly, the G15 points out that “the release of additional land will require flexibility in the planning system”. More subsidy alone will not be enough – more land must be made available for homes in expensive places. With the planning changes announced by the government in June, as well as hints of a new zoning system for England, the planning reform needed to give a permanent boost to social and private housing supply may be on the way.
Two separate papers from the Green Alliance and the Green Finance Institute also argue for investment to retrofit existing buildings to improve their energy efficiency, which will reduce carbon emissions.
These reports chime with the policy in the government’s Summer Statement to spend £2bn on covering up to £10,000 of costs for households to retrofit properties.
This could reduce energy costs by on average £300 a year. However, investment to retrofit existing homes will have the greatest impact in less prosperous cities and large towns, broadly outside the greater South East. Our analysis at Centre for Cities shows the urban areas in England and Wales with the most inefficient homes are Burnley, Bradford, and Blackpool – roughly a third of homes have an Energy Performance Certificate of E or below, compared to just 10 per cent in Milton Keynes and Crawley.
If the government wants to follow through on its levelling-up agenda, retrofitting homes is a great place to start.
The changes taking place in the economy and politics make it difficult to argue that things should continue as they did before. With the help of more research and evidence, policymakers can make better choices and repair problems that have persisted for decades.
Thinkhouse.org.uk is an online library of research pieces, policy publications and case studies that propose ways to increase the amount and quality of the UK’s housing stock and the related economic, social and community benefits of doing this. The site is curated by an independent panel of experts drawn from across the sector who select the best and most innovative reports for particular attention in our Must Read section. To promote new research and encourage a new generation of experts the panel have created an Early Career Researcher’s competition.
