The tide is turning on regeneration

So, lots of pieces of the jigsaw are finally coming together to enable social housing providers to make sure that everyone in the North has access to a good-quality home. But the housing crisis looks different in different places.

In many areas of the North, housing-led regeneration must sit alongside new housing supply and support in order to improve existing homes to meet the needs of communities. This is the only way to address the 27% of privately rented homes in the North that do not meet the current Decent Homes Standard, and the 126,000 social homes that are reaching the end of their serviceable life. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle.

We are running a parliamentary inquiry, supported by Homes for the North and Muse, looking at how housing-led regeneration can help to deliver the government’s housing ambitions, as well as driving economic growth and strengthening communities in the North.

“Lots of pieces of the jigsaw are finally coming together to enable social housing providers to make sure that everyone in the North has access to a good-quality home”

We want our parliamentary inquiry to support social housing providers, local and national government, and communities, to work together to deliver growth and better homes and places.

Devolution has led to the creation of housing partnerships, and levels of collaboration between providers – and across other sectors – in the North have never been better. Housing partnerships in the North have identified regeneration as a priority and are actively looking for solutions. Five of the northern mayoral combined authorities are in line for integrated settlements which could contribute to enabling providers to do more, but exact details are still to be confirmed.

Alongside this, the government has committed to a decade of national renewal. Last week, a term that’s rather familiar at the NHC – Pride in Place – hit the headlines as the government announced their £5bn plan to create safer, healthier neighbourhoods.

Building stronger communities by giving local people more of a say, and a stake, in local services and facilities came out strongly in our own Pride In Place project. We set up focus groups with residents in urban, rural and coastal communities across the North.

Residents spoke of the importance of access to basic services, community involvement in decision-making and the state of the local environment. We plan to use the inquiry to apply lessons learned about community involvement in neighbourhood regeneration to housing-led regeneration.

“We’re launching our inquiry call for evidence at the Northern Housing Summit in November. This will focus on exploring how regeneration links to government priorities, what we can deliver with current support and what the next steps are”

We’re launching our inquiry call for evidence at the Northern Housing Summit in November. This will focus on exploring how regeneration links to government priorities, what we can deliver with current support and what the next steps are. Over the following 18 months, we’ll develop recommendations using original research, on-the-ground visits and far-reaching engagement.

We recently announced that Lord Best will chair our Westminster group. Lord Best brings an unrivalled wealth of knowledge and experience and is the perfect person to make sure we ask the right questions.

Many of the foundations have already been laid. Our inquiry will bring together that groundwork to benefit communities across the North. This is the golden opportunity to harness the power of housing-led regeneration to make sure no one and nowhere is left behind.

Tracy Harrison, chief executive, Northern Housing Consortium