Dispatches from Manchester - day one

As you may expect, there is a sombre mood hanging over Housing 2017 as one word dominates conversations and sessions: Grenfell.

Members of the housing sector began arriving here last night, less than two weeks after the darkest day in its history.

As the conference got up and running today, delegates continued to discuss the tragedy in west London and turned their thoughts to arguably the most pressing question the housing sector has ever faced: how do we make sure it never happens again?

Below is our roundup of these conversations and other debates from day one:

Healey: scene at Grenfell was “heartbreaking”

The shadow housing secretary made an unexpected appearance at the conference and gave a moving description of the scene at Grenfell Tower the day after the fire.

Mr Healey said it was “heartbreaking” to see people who had fled the tower block walking the streets carrying pictures of their relatives or friends with nowhere to go to ask for information.

The council had gone AWOL in those early days, he said, but volunteers were there in droves. He met a woman who had been serving tea for 30 hours straight to firefighters going in and out of Grenfell Tower.

The Grenfell blaze should “shock the country into a change in policy,” he said.

“When a country as decent and well off as ours fails in something as basic as providing a safe, decent home for each of our citizens then things must change.”

Elphicke: tear the towers down

As the debate around fire safety in existing tower blocks continued to intensify, Natalie Elphicke, the high-profile chief executive of the Housing Finance Institute, added her voice to those arguing that dangerous towers should be torn down.

“Not only should we enact an immediate pause on the construction of new blocks that haven’t yet started, but we should actively consider whether we would be better off simply demolishing the existing buildings identified as being at risk instead of repairing them,” she told delegates.

Expect this to be a debate which intensifies in the coming weeks.

Alafat strikes a cord

In her opening address, the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) summed up the mood of the conference with her words about Grenfell.

“This is a tragedy which has stunned the entire housing community,” she said.

As the number of buildings confirmed with dangerous panels reaches 95, and the political pressure on the sector is turned up, the CIH has made copies of its briefings and guidance on fire safety free to collect from its stand or download online.

Offsite on the rise

Grenfell aside, a major talking point on day one of the conference was the ever-growing development of offsite construction.

In a session titled ‘Smarter construction’, Isobel Stephens, housing supply director at the Department for Communities and Local Government, outlined five main ways in which the government can help modern methods of construction, such as offsite, help fill the gap in housing supply.

These included ensuring a pipeline of demand, challenging myths and perceptions around technology, and overcoming issues around logistics and workforce.

Sir Edward gets “aggressive”

Storm clouds were virtually – as well as literally – gathering as Sir Edward Lister, chair of the Homes and Communities Agency, told the sector the scale of the challenge it faces.

“There’s no piece of this industry that’s working as it should,” he said in his opening keynote address.

He also used the speech to emphasise his intention for the agency to take “a more aggressive stance” on land, and played up the role of the HCA in underwriting projects.

The HCA, he said, should be the organisation putting the money in that enables the market to come to the table.

Burnham unveils 10-year plan

The new – and first ever – mayor of Greater Manchester took to the stage this afternoon to unveil a 10-year plan to end homelessness.

Andy Burnham has already promised to eradicate rough sleeping by 2020, and today he went a step further.

We’re still in the dark over the details but Mr Burnham told the audience: “If you’ve got your housing policy right and if you are building homes to cater for all levels of need throughout the society in which we live then indeed you should be dealing with rough sleeping and homelessness.”

Homelessness

With homelessness another major theme of the conference generally, delegates were given a sobering reminder of the reality of the issue by Crisis ambassador Rio O’Brien, who spoke about his personal experience, which included rough sleeping in Sheffield.

“I became invisible to people… They don’t see you as a human being,” he said.

Mr O’Brien credits the charity with helping him get his life back on track and now helps other homeless people.

“To empower somebody and teach them that they can move forward with help and support is the best feeling I have ever had,” he said.