Seeking common ground?

Benefits

The event produced policy recommendations for the Mayor of London on how to address the housing crisis. The recommendations covered five areas:

 

1. Radical policy change from central government

The majority of delegates agreed that radical shift in the political and financial commitment of the UK Government was required if the Mayor of London was to address the housing crisis, with one delegate stating that it was likely to be impossible to achieve in light of the recent assent of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

Concerns included that extending the ‘Right to Buy’ initiative to housing associations, without providing extra funding for councils to build new affordable homes, would force the poorest residents out of their homes, particularly in expensive areas of London. There was also a call from delegates for a greater understanding of the barriers to building houses, which in their opinion should be debated at a general public level, as well as policy and practitioner level.

However, it was acknowledged that this was difficult given the highly politicised context within which such debate takes place. One current barrier identified by a delegate was the short-term planning that results from the current five-year Mayoral and government period of office, and thus results in inadequate future planning. The need to plan for housing in the long term was emphasised and it was recommended that cross-party cooperation on designing a housing plan, spanning at least three to ten years, if not twenty years, was prioritised. This point was also made by former Housing Minister and MP, Nick Raynsford, who sat on the panel during the Housing Policy Forum. The long-time scale it takes developers to gain planning permission to build both private and not-for-profit houses was also acknowledged as a key barrier to delivering the desired numbers of homes.

 

2. Devolution of powers to the Mayor of London

To make real progress in the housing sector, it was suggested that the essential first step should be a campaign for very significant devolution of powers to the Mayor of London, in both housing, and tax and spending. Without this, it was suggested that the Government’s decision-taking on house building in London would always be paramount, and therefore the city would never be in a position to meet its housing needs. It was argued that a Mayor with requisite powers, however, could put Londoners in charge of which decisions on housing they accept or reject, including agreeing on the best means to pay for development.

 

3. Fiscal and strategic measures required in London

One delegate felt that whilst it is frequently said that London cannot build sufficient housing, it is in fact true to say that London is building new very high-density houses. However, these are generally treated as investment properties, not homes, and thus are not affordable for the great majority of those working and wishing to live in London.  The delegate proposed that fiscal measures be implemented to prevent this from happening.

A fiscal measure suggested by one delegate was a concerted drive to make investment-focussed property purchases much less attractive. This could be achieved either through taxes or restrictions on ownership, resale, and profits. A similar point was made about implementing strict laws on the ownership of second homes and empty homes, to provide an incentive for keeping the price of the current building stock affordable. From a strategic planning point of view, it was suggested by one respondent that the current London Plan should look at all options for housing whilst supporting London boroughs to prepare up-to-date housing plans and identify how land in their area should be allocated.

This would also allow for the building up of a secure and accurate evidence base on the availability of land and its owners, including public land. However, another delegate suggested that before any revision in the current Plan should take place, the implementation of the existing plan should be tightened. A suggestion for how this could happen was to ensure that the Greater London Authority appointed more Planning Officers to assist with ‘strategic’applications.

Other proposals on how the housing crisis could be addressed included empowering local authorities to set high requirements for the proportion of affordable housing through Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) agreements. One delegate suggested rolling out the London Living Rentinitiative7, as soon as possible, whilst another argued that the Mayor should prioritise negotiating grants for low-rent homes.  A case was also made for rent flexibility within housing associations, as a tool for building investor confidence in the housing association sector.