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A Labour government – now what?
Catherine Ryder, chief executive of PlaceShapers, gives her perspective on what the housing sector might expect from the new government
Catherine Ryder is chief executive of PlaceShapers
While the polls seemed clear we would be waking up today to a Labour government, it will take time to fully understand what the result means for social housing.
Labour have been careful to manage expectations about there not being a lot of extra cash to spend, certainly not in the short term, so of course there are concerns about whether real and much-needed change is on the way.
However, our new prime minister’s commitment to building more social housing is a great place to start if we want to end the housing crisis and hundreds of new MPs provide a real opportunity to reset our relationship with those in power.
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The other commitment Labour made in its manifesto, which could be truly transformative, is to further devolve housing to local decision-makers. This could ensure that decisions and funding are focused on the solutions that will address the unique challenges of each area.
In some places there is a need for significant regeneration – both large and small scale. In others, there is a crisis in temporary accommodation and new homes are urgently required to meet escalating demand. We need a system that responds to these challenges rather than imposes a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Realising the potential of devolution will not be straightforward and will require all those who have a stake in place to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Some areas of the country are obviously more prepared than others to respond to this opportunity.
Our members, place-based housing associations, have experience and expertise to contribute to how devolution could work effectively in practice. They have the skills, the relationships, the infrastructure and a deep understanding of the places where they work. They stand ready to do what they can to help.
Engaging residents and communities in the housing priorities for an area will also be a critical factor in making a success of devolution.
There are things the government can do quickly to take steps towards a more place-based approach to housing. For example, extending the flexibility introduced into the Affordable Homes Programme to allow money to be spent on regeneration and making it easier for housing associations and others to join up funding at a local level will help.
So, while there is much to be positive about, the immediate challenges the sector faces – stretched budgets, changing housing need, increasing costs, the need to continue to improve our homes and services – will still be utmost in the minds of housing associations.
“The other commitment Labour made in its manifesto, which could be truly transformative, is to further devolve housing to local decision-makers”
The new government needs to ensure housing associations have the funding and support they need to respond to the increasing challenges that they, and their residents, face. Again, here there is cause for hope: the manifesto talks about supporting housing associations to build their capacity to make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.
But we do need the government to understand that our role goes beyond building new homes, as important as that is. With the right support, we can do more of the things we are good at that matter. We can restore pride and belonging to communities; we can house the homelessness; we can help the country reach its net zero ambitions; and we can help ease entrenched poverty and long-term unemployment.
At PlaceShapers, our long-standing vision is to put place-shaping at the heart of decision-making. Our job now is to work with the new Labour government and hundreds of new MPs to make that vision a reality.
