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HFI: let builders provide lower percentages of affordable housing
Builders should be allowed to provide lower percentages of affordable housing, a new report by the Housing Finance Institute (HFI) has recommended.
The paper from the Housing and Finance Institute (HFI), written by its chair Sir Mark Boleat, argues that a shortage of developable land and an overly restrictive planning system are the main factors behind London’s housing crisis.
It specifically attacks restrictions on building on the green belt, the existence of planning obligations, an alleged reluctance by public sector bodies to release land, inadequate infrastructure, and the way the building industry is dominated by a small group of large developers.
Some of the report’s recommendations include allowing developers to build lower percentages of affordable housing to increase overall numbers, excluding representatives of an area in which a development would take place from voting on the decision, and imposing stronger penalties on public sector bodies that hold on to surplus land.
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The HFI was set up by the coalition government in 2015 to broker deals between councils and private finance providers, following the seminal Elphicke-House review.
The review’s recommendations come despite London mayor Sadiq Khan setting a long-term target of 50% affordable housing, and calling on developers to provide a minimum of 35%.
Sir Mark Suggested that tariffs would be more effective than percentages:"Providing more affordable homes remains one of the fundamental goals of all those in the housing sector. The current negotiated approach creates uncertainty, leads to delays and can result in less housing of all types being built, including less affordable housing. Greater certainty about what is required to be provided by way of fixed requirements or tariffs would ensure more housing is built overall, as well as increasing the quantity of affordable homes.
“The same old answers to the same old perceived problems won’t get us out of this mess. We must be radical – and we must be clear about the real reasons for a lack of affordable housing in London. Our problem is not foreign buyers, a decline in council housebuilding or developers sitting on undeveloped land. The principal reason why the supply of new homes has not matched rising demand is that the supply of housing has been restricted by public policy measures. The planning system is the major factor in this regard – and requires radical reform.”
Update: on 26.10.17 this article was updated with an additional quote from Sir Mark clarifying that he is in favour of fixed requirements or tariffs to ensure more affordable homes are built.
