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Time to change a national approach to housing that creates ‘left-behind’ places
Over the past year a group of housing professionals have visited towns and cities across the North and Midlands. Their damning conclusions about policy that has created ‘left-behind’ places should be a wake-up call for us all, writes Martin Hilditch
Almost a decade ago, funding to regenerate the North of England and the Midlands was slashed as austerity bit.
Long-standing housing market renewal programmes kicked the bucket halfway through their expected lifespans. Communities which had been promised change were left hanging.
Jilted at the altar, it’s apparent that many of those areas and communities are still feeling the impact a decade later.
Last week’s report by the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) Great Places commission makes this very clear.
The commissioners met with housing associations, residents and local stakeholders over a year from March 2018. They concluded that “there are places in which current government policy provides no answer or solution to obvious and damaging market failures. This cannot continue”.
Sadly, these are conclusions that were reached 20 years ago. That’s not a criticism of the report – but it’s certainly a damning commentary on the decision-making that has led us here.
As the report states “there seems to be little effective national response to issues of decline and disinvestment faced by many places in the North and Midlands”. The report suggests that these ongoing market failures have “contributed to a sense of distance, disappointment and distrust felt by many towards the system”.
Frankly, who can blame the “left-behind” places that the report refers to for feeling a bit Miss Havisham about their experience.
With a no-deal Brexit looking increasingly likely, we must not make the mistakes of a decade ago (inaction and neglect).
It would be a criminal shame if the problems outlined in the Great Places report drag on for another 10 years – and the political establishment will certainly deserve to reap the whirlwind if they do.
As Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, states in her introduction to the report, the forthcoming Spending Review provides a chance to right some wrongs.
Certainly, a long-term regeneration strategy is needed and it’s difficult to argue against the need for a sustainable funding settlement for local authorities, too.
We’ll be doing our bit to contribute to the conversation and keep it in the spotlight by visiting some of the places flagged in the report and examining some of the issues they face over the next few months.
Please get in touch if you want to take part in that debate or if there is a story that you want us to tell.
Too much time has been wasted already – it’s time to get to grips with this properly.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing
