You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
‘We have got to do the right thing’ on affordable housing, says land director of Homes England
Homes England has “got to do the right thing” on affordable housing and is focusing on increasing levels of social rent on large sites, its executive director for land has said.
Speaking at Housing 2019, the Chartered Institute of Housing conference and exhibition in Manchester, Stephen Kinsella accepted that “it is easy to beat up” the government agency over rates of affordable housing.
It comes a week after figures showed Homes England programmes delivered 45,629 homes in 2018/19 – a nine year high – but social rent made up just 1,231 of these.
Mr Kinsella said the delivery agency was seeking to combine its grant-giving powers with its strategic land role to ensure higher rates of affordable are built on large sites. He added that since he joined in 2017 all of its new sites have had “policy compliant” affordable housing rates.
“You can beat the government up on affordable housing and you can beat Homes England up as well, I understand that,” he told delegates.
READ MORE
“But the position we are clear on is we have to do the right thing on affordable housing. Since I have joined, every single site has to have policy-compliant affordable housing.
“But policy-compliant might not be enough – sometimes it can be affordable rent and shared ownership which can be out of people’s reach so we are aware we need to do more in terms of social rent as well.”
Mr Kinsella cited a scheme with Galliford Try where its intervention lifted the rate of affordable from 20% to 48%, as it brought in Sovereign – a strategic partner – to use its grant on the site.
Speaking on a panel discussing the delivery of new homes on large sites, Mr Kinsella called for a “new asset class” of master developers who could speed up delivery by providing early investment in infrastructure.
“We have got to get up to an average of 500 homes a year from these large sites and that’s well beyond where most of them are now,” he said.
“To do that requires deep pockets to invest in the social infrastructure up front, which is difficult for the house builders or the land promoters to do up front.”
He added that Homes England itself now has 12 large sites, and £350m to spend this year on investments to bring large, difficult sites to market.
“We can’t possibly be the only one. We want to create a new asset class of master developers,” he said.
More from Housing 2019
What’s happening at Housing 2019?
Dispatches from Housing 2019 – Thursday Our round-up of the third and final day
Whatever Theresa May says, social housing is still the victim of a focus on homeownership Editor Martin Hilditch gives Inside Housing’s verdict to the prime minister’s speech
Your Housing 2019 tweets: a selection of tweets from the conference
Theresa May believes in a change of direction – but will Johnson or Hunt pay any attention? Jules Birch gives his take on Theresa May’s speech to Housing 2019
Watch Theresa May’s speech: a video of the prime minister’s speech to Housing 2019 in full
Dispatches from Housing 2019 – Wednesday The key takeaways from day two of the conference and exhibition
John Healey on Grenfell, Boris Johnson and Labour housing policy Ahead of his speech to Housing 2019, the shadow housing secretary takes part in a Q&A with Inside Housing
Dispatches from Housing 2019 – Tuesday Our round-up of all the key talking points in Manchester on the first day of the conference
Housing Heroes 2019 winners announced Find out the 17 winners and 14 commendations at the ceremony on Monday ahead of the conference and exhibition
In full: Terrie Alafat’s opening address to Housing 2019 The full text of the speech given by the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing to open Housing 2019
What will the Hackitt Review changes mean for you? Conference speaker Debbie Larner writes for Inside Housing about building safety
Inside Housing and Aico competition: tell us about your resident safety campaign We launch a new competition to promote fire and carbon monoxide safety
The latest news headlines from the conference:
Next PM will be committed to social housing, says Brokenshire
Homes England strategic partners to get £1bn cash boost
John Healey blasts May's housing record
Don't wait for Hackitt legislation to push ahead with building safety, says MHCLG official
Theresa May: ‘social housing a victim of drive for homeownership’
‘No-deal Brexit an opportunity for housing’, claim sector figures
Banks’ appetite to lend threatens offsite take-up, warns major landlord
Minister: funding allocations should be based on joint-agency working
Sector warned that fire safety costs could eat up HRA cap windfall
Theresa May to give speech at Housing 2019 conference
Regulator ‘found no breaches’ following Dispatches programme on Sanctuary
No funding for removal of combustible balconies, says Malthouse
MHCLG housing supply chief: affordable housing grant increase ‘on the table’ for Spending Review
‘We have got to do the right thing’ on affordable housing, says land director of Homes England
Council boss warns against local authority ‘can’t do’ attitude towards housebuilding
Terrie Alafat says Spending Review must ‘make a real difference’
Sector needs £146bn from government over a decade to end housing crisis, says NHF
Savills housing sector survey: building homes more important than existing stock to housing leaders
Morning Briefing: thousands descend on Manchester for Housing 2019
We are bringing you the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of #CIHHousing anywhere, including:
— Inside Housing (@insidehousing)
All the biggest #ukhousing stories
Live tweeting from the key sessions
A daily newsletter rounding up the key talking points
Daily magazines of conference newsWe are bringing you the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of #CIHHousing anywhere, including:
— Inside Housing (@insidehousing) June 26, 2019
All the biggest #ukhousing stories
Live tweeting from the key sessions
A daily newsletter rounding up the key talking points
Daily magazines of conference news
