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It’s not job done when it comes to a long-term plan for housing: the next phase starts here
This week, Inside Housing announced it will be partnering with the National Housing Federation (NHF) on the next phase of its #PlanForHousing campaign. Editor Martin Hilditch sets out the next steps and why this is a crucial time to influence the government’s promised long-term housing strategy
Martin Hilditch is editor of Inside Housing
In the past year, the number of children living in temporary accommodation in England has soared from 130,000 to more than 150,000.
It’s a stark indicator of a broken housing system. Failure is currently baked in, because the system is piecemeal, lacking an overall direction and vision, and success itself has not been defined.
Over the next few months, there is a unique and important opportunity to change things. The government has committed to developing a long-term housing strategy – following a brilliant sector campaign.
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Conversations I had at this year’s Labour Party Conference indicated that the party wants to spend time getting things right. The process of drafting the strategy is expected to last until (at least) spring next year.
That means there is an important chance for the housing sector to feed into and influence the process.
I’m delighted that Inside Housing will be partnering with the NHF on the next phase of its campaign for a long-term strategy. Over the course of the next couple of months, we will be speaking to figures from across the sector as part of the process to provide insights, spark debate and offer policy suggestions that can shape a vision for the system and a strategy to address the housing crisis in its entirety.
The aim is to make sure that the collection of interviews and opinion pieces comes from across the sector. Together with the NHF, we will be looking to reflect a diverse range of voices, including social landlords, residents, builders, designers, planners and charities (among others!).
That process has already started, and the #PlanForHousing opinion piece collection launches this week. The first piece landed on the NHF’s site today. Inside Housing will be publishing our first piece on Thursday, along with an interview with Bruce Moore, chief executive of Housing 21, setting out why there is a need for a housing strategy for older people, and what that should contain.
What happens next? This isn’t just a talking shop. A selection of essays will be collated and presented to MPs and stakeholders in January.
It’s a critical time for the sector. Last week’s Budget may have filled in some of the short-term blanks, but this is a real opportunity to lay the foundations for a much brighter future.
As a starter for 10, I’d point you to the opening piece yesterday by Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF. She laid out what the organisation thinks should be some overarching aims, including that the strategy should last a minimum of 10 years, but with a vision (that overarching vision is crucial, too) and framework that extend beyond that.
We currently have a system that produces outcomes – such as high numbers of children living in temporary accommodation – that few people would argue are desirable. But unless we finally take the opportunity to define a vision for housing in England and the strategy needed to deliver it, we will continue to stumble from one disaster to the next.
I’m delighted to partner with the NHF on this important campaign. Please get involved. We look forward to hearing from you.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing
