A major new project
by the Chartered Institute of Housing aims to help shape the future of social
housing.
Rethinking social
housing, launched today, will combine original research and engagement with the
sector, tenants, politicians and the public to explore fundamental questions
about the future of social housing.
The project aims to:
• Stimulate a
wide-ranging debate about the future of social housing
• Make the case for
social housing
• Understand and
challenge perceptions of social housing
• Influence and
shape the direction of future housing policy and feed directly into the
government’s housing green paper.
The news comes as both the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary are due to make major housing policy announcements. Theresa May is due to reinforce the Government's commitment to housebuilding, whilst Sajid Javid will highlight ways it will look to boost the social housing sector.
Terrie Alafat CBE,
chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “It is a crucial
time for social housing and recent events, including the Grenfell Tower
tragedy, have thrust social housing into the spotlight.
"We think there are a
number of fundamental questions that we need to answer about its role and
contribution.
“The government has
committed to conducting a top-to-bottom review in its green paper but we want
people who live and work in social housing to lead the debate about where it
goes next - that is why we are launching Rethinking social housing.
“We want as many
individuals and organisations to take part as possible and giving a voice to
tenants and the public will be a crucial part of the project.
“We are delighted to
have a group of leaders from across the sector on board.
"This is a project that
will evolve and the group will continually assess the project based on its
findings to guide its future work.”
The sponsors of the
project are Sovereign, Home Group, Peabody, InCommunities, Optivo, PA Housing,
Riverside Group and South Liverpool Homes.
Following
publication of new statistics on housebuilding, Theresa May said: “For decades
we simply have not been building enough homes, nor have we been building them
quickly enough, and we have seen prices rise.
“The number of new
homes being delivered each year has been increasing since 2010, but there is
more we can do.
“We must get back
into the business of building the good quality new homes for people who need
them most.
“That is why I have
made it my mission to build the homes the country needs and take personal
charge of the Government’s response.
“Today I am seeing
the work now underway to put this right and, in coming weeks and months, my
Government will be going further to ensure that we build more homes, more
quickly.
“This will be a long
journey and it will take time for us to fix the broken housing market - but I
am determined to build a Britain fit for the future.”
Communities
Secretary Sajid Javid will deliver a speech on housing at the Temple Meads
Quarter in Bristol to reinforce the government’s approach to back housing of
all tenures, including more social housing.
The Communities
Secretary is expected to say: “The generation crying out for help with housing
is not over-entitled. They don’t want the world handed to them on a plate. They
want simple fairness, moral justice, the opportunity to play by the same rules enjoyed
by those who came before them.
“Without affordable,
secure, safe housing we risk creating a rootless generation, drifting from one
short-term tenancy to the next, never staying long enough to play a role in
their community.
“Our Housing White
Paper in February set out our broad vision. It described the scale of the
challenge and the need for action on many fronts. Since then we’ve been putting
it into action, laying the foundations for hundreds of thousands more homes.
“But there are many,
many faults in our housing market, dating back many, many years. If you only
fix one you’ll make some progress, but not enough. This is a big problem and we
have to think big.”
He will announce
that the Government is taking housing associations’ debt off the balance sheet,
ensuring housing associations have a stable investment environment to build
more homes.
