VIDEO | The key to renewing housing estates
Homes England’s changes to the Affordable Homes Programme mean housing associations’ estate regeneration efforts have received a boost.
So how do we unlock the potential of people, places, and partnerships to bring about meaningful change? That was the focus of this roundtable discussion, hosted by Place Capital Group.
Participants
- Caroline Baker, North West managing partner at Cushman & Wakefield
- Claire Griffiths, chief executive at Cobalt Housing
- Mark Howden, chief executive at Peaks & Plains Housing Trust
- Rob Loughenbury, director of strategy at Onward Homes
- Karen Mitchell, chief executive of Southway Housing Trust
- Kevin Ruth, chief executive of Together Housing Group
- Vicky Savage, group director of development and sales at L&Q
- David Smith-Milne, chief executive and founder of Place Capital Group
- Chaired by Julia Hatmaker, editor of Place North West
Key talking points
Filmed just hours after Homes England’s announcement that it would expand its Affordable Housing Programme to include estate regeneration, the roundtable started out with reactions to the news.
Most were optimistic about the proposals, saying that this would bring in some much-needed funding that could make a real difference on housing estates. Others were concerned about the timeframe attached to the money with its start-on-site date of 31 March 2025.
That timeframe adds pressure, but it was agreed housing associations should not rush into any project. Time still needs to be spent on ensuring that the scheme is the right for the area and meets sustainability goals, it was agreed.
The funding programme will also only make a difference if it focuses on social rent, according to those at the discussion. Several of the housing association chief executives spoke about how great the demand is for that tenure and, while it is important to have mixed-tenure estates, if the programme involved removing social rent homes and replacing them with affordable rent properties it would be less effective.
You can hear highlights from the roundtable in the video at the top of this article, as well as on the Place North West YouTube channel. Learn more about Place Capital Group at placecapitalgroup.co.uk.
