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Home > Regional Housing
Strategy > Providing affordable homes
to maintain balanced communities
Regional Priority 2: Providing affordable homes to maintain
balanced communities
Issue
The imbalance between housing supply and demand described under
the previous Priority is found at the opposite extremes in other
parts of the North West, where excess demand and restricted supply
have pushed house prices and rents beyond affordable levels for
many local people. Links can be drawn between the emergence of low
demand and increasing affordability issues in nearby communities,
particularly in the urban context, but the impact of a lack of affordable
homes on the vitality of mixed communities in affected areas can
be acute. In rural areas, these issues can have particularly severe
effects, compounded by both the external demand for retirement and
holiday homes and the low incomes commonly available to local households
working in agriculture or the tourist sector.
The case for action
Despite the growing focus on areas of low demand for housing,
demand remains high in some parts of the North West. Regional Planning
Guidance anticipates greatest need in
- "market towns and the more accessible and scenic rural
areas of Cumbria, particularly the Lake District National Park
and adjoining areas to the South and East;
- villages in remoter rural areas; and
- particularly affluent areas within commuting distance of
the Regional Poles including Stockport, Trafford and parts of
North Cheshire and South Lancashire."
Severe demand pressures are evident in many of these areas, as
is made clear in the latest Centre for Urban and Regional Studies
(CURS) report. Mapping mean dwelling price to mean income illustrates
clearly the main 'hot spots' including much of rural Cumbria and
north Lancashire, much of Cheshire and the south of Greater Manchester,
north Sefton and parts of south Lancashire (see Figure 3).
In these areas, the case for action is focused on the need to maintain
sustainable, balanced, mixed communities - ensuring that people
with lower incomes, perhaps especially the young and the old, are
able to access local housing at reasonable cost. Underlying this
concern about the social mix and cohesion of affected communities
is the longer-term impact on local economies if local people on
even average incomes are no longer able to afford to live and (by
implication) work in those communities. Already demand for 'key
worker' housing is evident in parts of the North West.
Figure 3: Ratio of mean dwelling price to mean income by postcode
sector, 2002 (CURS, 2003)
It is important to consider the position in both rural and urban
areas, since although there are common themes, each presents a different
set of issues.
Rural affordability
Rural communities (including many market towns) face a range
of challenges, including the push to diversify local economies away
from their traditional dependence upon agriculture and tourism.
Particularly in more scenic areas or those accessible to urban centres,
rural housing markets are under pressure from long distance migration,
often at retirement, or from demand for second and holiday homes.
With property values being driven up by higher income households
from outside the local economy, the lower income levels common to
most rural areas makes owner-occupation a distant prospect for many
local households (especially newly-forming households). Homelessness
is an increasing concern. The existing affordable housing stock
becomes a vital resource for local people seeking to remain within
their own communities, but is often subject to high levels of Right
to Buy sales. The scarcity and expense of development sites contributes
to new affordable housing provision failing to keep up with the
losses of social rented stock.
The outcome is a position which can threaten the viability of local
services and the economy more generally, as the labour force finds
itself priced out of the local housing market. Long distance commuting
of low paid workers in the health, social care and tourism sectors
into the Lake District National Park (for example) from the west
coast of Cumbria is just one manifestation of this issue. The Cumbria
Strategic Partnership is working with the North West Development
Agency and other partners to investigate, in different types of
localities, the links between affordable housing and the local economy,
barriers preventing effective action, and potential models for overcoming
these barriers.
High demand urban areas
Vibrant economies in urban areas such as Trafford, Stockport
or north Sefton are driving up demand for housing, leading to increasing
concerns about housing affordability. Their attractiveness as places
to live has meant that house prices have been driven higher. The
contrasts between these sections of the housing market and lower
demand, lower cost areas relatively short distances away are acute.
The Board view progress toward an urban renaissance in the housing
market renewal Pathfinder areas and elsewhere as vital in achieving
a long term solution to the pressures these areas face. However,
this does not address the immediate issues of social exclusion apparent
in high demand urban areas, where (as in the rural areas) high levels
of Right to Buy sales are restricting access to social rented housing
and high land values make new affordable development difficult to
achieve.
Delivering change
The strategic priority for the region is to:
Priority 2.1
Tackle the shortages of affordable housing in areas of the North
West where demand for additional housing is high, where this impacts
adversely on social inclusion and the sustainable growth of local,
sub-regional and regional economies.
This activity needs to be part of comprehensive strategies aimed
at maintaining sustainable mixed communities within high demand
areas, with planning policies perhaps being the key potential lever
available to local authorities and their partners. Approaches such
as the market town 'health checks' and subsequent Action Plans being
supported by the North West Development Agency, Countryside Agency
and Housing Corporation are one example. In urban areas, this needs
to be part of a broader sub-regional approach, encouraging urban
renaissance where demand is currently low to help reduce the pressure
on hotspots of high demand.
The Board will investigate best practice in the use of the planning
system to achieve further affordable housing development, including
the potential for a more strategic approach to the use of Section
106 agreements. The Board will encourage local authorities, housing
associations and other partners, including the private sector, in
the development of alternative approaches to affordable housing
provision.
In setting out its own investment strategy, the Regional
Housing Board's priorities for the use of the single housing pot
will be:
SHP Priority 3. Investing to help provide additional affordable
housing where the long term balance of mixed communities is being
undermined, as part of broader rural renaissance strategies. Available
evidence suggests that this includes:
3.1 The Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks
and surrounding parts of South Lakeland, Eden and Allerdale; and
3.2 Other rural communities across the region.
This will include delivery of the national investment programme
for rural settlements below 3,000 in population.
Outcomes
The overall package of interventions, including the Board's
own contributions, will seek to secure outcomes including:
- Stabilisation and strengthening of diverse local communities
in sustainable locations within rural and urban high demand areas
- Supporting the rural economy and rural services
- Building integrated communities across social, racial and faith
divides
- Improvement in the design and condition of the housing stock,
and resulting benefits in:
- Improving energy efficiency and reducing fuel poverty
- Improving public health through reduction in incidence of
damp, cold, overcrowded and unsanitary living accommodation
- Contributing to the achievement of the Government's Decent
Homes targets
- Improvements in the design and quality of the physical environment
in high demand areas
The Board expect investment of single housing pot resources under
this priority to be focused mainly on:
- development of new social housing for rent or low cost home
ownership using the 'traditional' route of Housing Corporation
funding via the single housing pot; and
- acquisition of existing property on the open market for use
as rented or low cost home ownership accommodation (recognising
that this fails to address the central issue in areas where there
are simply too few homes).
The adoption of Lifetime Homes principles will be encouraged.
More work
We need a better understanding of the processes at work in the
'hot spots', the ways these act as barriers to sustainable economic
development and social inclusion, and which areas need to be targeted
for investment. The interaction between low and high demand areas
(and indeed the healthy housing markets between those extremes)
also needs to be better understood and monitored.
Better information is also required about the current operation
of the planning system, including Section 106 agreements, and the
extent to which this can be relied upon as a source of significant
additional affordable housing in areas of high demand. This will
need to take into account the changes resulting from new Regional
Planning Guidance and the adoption of the Plan, Monitor and Manage
approach to those new regional policies. Development and exchange
of best practice approaches to these issues from around the region
should also be a priority.
Improved understanding of the real costs involved for developers,
housing associations, local authorities and others involved in the
process would also be helpful, to establish the need for, and best
use of, single housing pot resources to support this process.
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