To boost housing delivery we must utilise partnerships between public and private, writes Andy Hulme
As the kids my husband teaches in a secondary school in London prepare to take their GCSEs in a few weeks, some of them are doing so without a place to call home.
1 in 23 children in London are homeless – that’s one child in every classroom. That sobering fact made me stop and reflect when we talked about it over the kitchen table. Sadly, the scale of the housing crisis across country means this is the reality for too many kids and families, and we need to do more, together, to make a difference.
At Hyde, we started building the largest number of homes in our history in 2022/23. We’re on site with around 6,500 new homes today.
But not a single one of those homes, and the transformational impact they will have on the families who move into them, would be possible without our development and investment partners.
If we’re going to help the next wave of kids trying to concentrate on their exams while not having a secure home to rest and study, we’re going to need to work in partnership more often and more effectively.
This was the theme of a high-quality discussion we convened at UKREIIF last week, where a cross-section of people from organisations involved in turning the tide on the housing crisis came together.
We heard from Claire Holland, the leader of Lambeth Council, about the 40,000 people on its housing waiting list, and the sky-rocketing increase in temporary accommodation bills facing councils across the country. We also talked about how four in 10 young people are putting off life decisions because of uncertainty about their future housing options, according to polling we commissioned last year. For an early morning panel, it was a depressing start to the day.
Taking the skills, expertise, and resources of different organisations and pointing them towards a shared goal is one of the great things about the home building and social housing sectors
But without diminishing the thousands of very real tragedies that each of these statistics speak to, there was also a real drive and commitment not to be defeated by the scale of the challenge. With a general election now called, there is optimism that, by working together, we can have a greater impact.
Of course, partnership working isn’t something new. Taking the skills, expertise, and resources of different organisations and pointing them towards a shared goal is one of the great things about the home building and social housing sectors, and has been for a long time. What’s different now, and what we need to rachet up, is the diversity of these partnerships.
At Hyde, we’re working with local authorities to build the social and affordable homes communities need. Our partnership with Brighton and Hove City Council is delivering 1,000 new homes for low-income households, alongside providing returns for investment partners to support further activity. We’re not alone, with many other housing associations looking at how they can support local authorities with appetite to build. The renaissance in council home building, especially in London, is incredibly welcome, but ramping up delivery takes time. There are skills and capacity available between our familial sectors that has to be shared and put to good use.
Take Brent, for example, which has had the second highest level of housing delivery in London over the last decade, achieving 134 per cent of its housing targets.
Private involvement in the delivery of the most affordable homes needs to be embraced too. We’ve heard positive noises from key Labour figures about the role of ‘patient private capital’ in building new homes. This is a step-change from just a few years ago
As Shama Tatler, the cabinet member for regeneration, planning and growth in Brent, told us, the council has put its full weight behind delivering the homes the borough needs from its own resources, but also by working creatively with private and charitable partners where shared outcomes can be best achieved by working together.
Private involvement in the delivery of the most affordable homes needs to be embraced too. We’ve heard positive noises from key Labour figures about the role of ‘patient private capital’ in building new homes. This is a step-change from just a few years ago, possibly in recognition of the funding challenge any government will face after the election.
But what needs to happen to put private investment to work more effectively and at scale?
Chris Jeffs, fund manager at M&G Real Estate, recognised as one of the world’s leading property investors, was enthusiastic during our debate about the opportunities that lie ahead to build on his firm’s 20 years of investment in affordable housing. M&G’s supply of private capital and ongoing partnership with Hyde is a critical enabler to unlock the supply of new affordable homes, at scale, for the UK. The partnership enables M&G to buy homes and Hyde then uses this funding to support part of our development programme, enabling us to deliver more than we can do alone.
>>See also: Housing bosses challenge minister over dwindling funding for affordable homes
Yet, while attitudes have softened towards different forms of capital being put to use to meet the shared objective of tackling the housing crisis, some of the barriers have hardened. Our expert panellists were unanimous in their view that long-term decision-making and a greater degree of policy certainty are non-negotiables if we’re going to make progress.
From longer-term rent settlements and affordable home funding programmes, to ensuring the planning system is effective at both securing the infrastructure new communities need, but also getting homes delivered faster and with less risk involved. Government, both national and local, has a crucial role to play.
We’re also honest that one of the critical partnerships we need is with the people living in the communities where new homes need to be built. Just as Reena Patel from Gowling WLG made clear that we need to share learning and education with potential private investors to deliver more homes, we also need to bring existing communities with us to secure consent to ramp up new home building.
The British Property Federation has estimated that around £10bn of private investment in affordable housing could be unlocked each year, if there was a similar increase in public funding.
While we will need to see what the next government’s appetite to truly tackle the housing crisis will be, it’s this partnership between public and private, with long-term community-focused institutions like housing associations at the heart, that will play a massive role in whether we start to turn the tide on the housing crisis or not.
Andy Hulme, chief executive, Hyde Group
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