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Building homes fit for heroes
Housing associations are reviving the spirit of the interwar era to support key workers. Jess McCabe finds out more. Illustration by Eva Bee
It is 1918 and World War I has just ended. The very next day, prime minister Lloyd George gives a speech promising to build “homes fit for heroes” for returning soldiers. The public mood favours rewarding veterans of the conflict and the prime minister goes on to win the general election on this pledge.
That year has been in our thoughts for another reason – it was in 1918 that Spanish flu killed millions around the world. So perhaps it is no surprise that last month, a group of housing associations joined together with offsite manufacturers and others in the property world to call for a new generation of ‘Homes for Heroes’.
“Although it may be too soon to foresee when our present crisis will subside, we too have heroes to whom we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude – in many cases, heroes to whom we owe our lives”
This time, the focus would be on providing 100,000 homes for the key workers who have done so much for the country during the coronavirus pandemic – NHS workers, delivery drivers, refuse collectors, care workers and retail staff.
As a G15 report setting out the proposals says: “Although it may be too soon to foresee when our present crisis will subside, we too have heroes to whom we owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude – in many cases, heroes to whom we owe our lives.”
But what exactly is the Homes for Heroes campaign? What is it asking for and how could it work in practice – without cannibalising funding already in place for homes for those in most desperate need?
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The campaign is nationwide, but it first emerged from London’s G15 group of large housing associations. London is where the coronavirus first peaked and where the housing crisis is particularly acute. Kate Davies, chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis, is one of several housing sector figures who are cheerleading for the idea.
“The fast food industry was delivering free food to NHS workers, and I thought, ‘What can we do?’ I personally wanted to do something. I was sure other people would feel the same way”
She says it occurred to her one Thursday evening at 8pm, when the country was on its doorstep clapping for the NHS and carers: “I was clapping and thinking, ‘This is nice, it gives this warm feeling but, of course, people need more than that.’”
Ms Davies, who is due to speak on a panel about the campaign at Digital Housing Week on Friday 26 June, continues: “The fast food industry was delivering free food to NHS workers, and I thought, ‘What can we do?’ I personally wanted to do something. I was sure other people would feel the same way.”
She says there was nostalgia about the ‘Homes for Heroes’ concept: “That connected with people. The idea was just putting sentiment together with practice.”
But what exactly is the campaign going to involve? Ms Davies says housing associations and other organisations will take action to deliver homes for essential workers from their own resources.
“Some people are saying: ‘If the government pays for it, we’ll do it.’ What I’ve been suggesting is we see what we can do ourselves”
For Notting Hill Genesis, this will involve buying up 100 homes and quickly letting them at a 20% discount to key workers. Ms Davies says the homes will likely be houses with gardens in the outer London boroughs. The homes will probably be assured shortholds, rented for five years, but essentially for however long the tenants want to stay.
“At the moment, we’re just putting forward the idea, asking for help and seeing what we can get. If all housing associations did even one or two homes from their resources, we could get quite a lot. But it does require voluntary effort. Some people are saying: ‘If the government pays for it, we’ll do it.’ What I’ve been suggesting is we see what we can do ourselves.”
“It’s not going to be possible to be funded only by housing associations and councils. It needs quite a lot of government funds to do something immediately”
However, those at the heart of the campaign stress that to get anywhere, government intervention is required. Jamie Ratcliff, executive director of business performance and partnerships at Network, says: “It’s not going to be possible to be funded only by housing associations and councils. It needs quite a lot of government funds to do something immediately.”
Geeta Nanda, chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley, another G15 association that is leading the campaign, agrees: “This will require a national effort and will be far more effective if we work in partnership with the government, the private sector, local councils, health trusts, charities and many others. To truly move forward and create change, we must all work together and build a new generation of Homes for Heroes.”
The four proposals of the Homes for Heroes report
- Create a national programme of low-cost homes prioritised for the heroes who have put themselves at risk to keep us alive and healthy throughout this crisis.
- Deliver an initial burst of thousands of homes within months, by matching government funding with housing association resources to make completed homes and those under construction available on a low-cost basis for essential workers.
- Support a high-tech manufacturing base to create jobs across the country – powering a long-term ambitious programme to deliver the low-cost homes our heroes need.
- Spread the costs across society by part-funding the homes through public giving, public land, government funding and housing associations’ resources.
Although the idea has been popular, it has not had an uncritical reception, principally from people who are concerned about diverting funds away from building and allocating housing on the basis of need. The G15 report imagines the 100,000 homes could be a mix of social rent homes, reduced rent and shared ownership, to reflect the different financial situations and needs of essential workers.
Alison Inman is a board member at Colne, Saffron and Tpas, and one of the founders of the Shout campaign for social housing. She hasn’t been involved in the Homes for Heroes campaign.
She says: “I know there’s been some kickback from people – how can you talk about housing people with jobs and homes when we’ve got a massive homelessness problem? We’ve got to ride both horses. We’ve got to have different solutions for different people.”
Official government statistics for 2018/19 show that 41% of new lets went to tenants deemed by local authorities to be in priority need. Many essential workers will be adequately housed – but insecurely, in the private rented sector (PRS) or shared housing, and paying more than they can afford.
“The idea resonates but there’s no green light or cheques being ready to be signed”
“I just don’t think it’s a bad thing to start centring those people with those needs,” she says.
She is more sceptical of what the solutions are than whether action is necessary: “I think what we start with doing is talking to people who are in that situation at the moment. Often, we are informed by the best of intentions, but we don’t really understand. The development directors and whoever else aren’t necessarily going out pounding the pavements in the PRS, saying: ‘Tell me about your housing, tell me about your wages, tell me about what your life is like.’”
Ms Inman suggests one solution could be social landlords buying up homes from faltering PRS landlords which want to sell up – enabling essential workers to gain some security in their tenure without moving.
The problem in doing any of this, of course, is getting the government to sign a big cheque to fund more housing, especially in the face of economic contraction and just after it has spent billions on coronavirus measures. As this article went to press, the Office for National Statistics had just revealed the UK economic shrunk 20.4% in April – its worst ever monthly contraction.
Mr Ratcliff says the campaign has been talking to government and “there’s significant appetite for doing something”. Still, there is a big caveat.
Certainly, it may be pushing at an open door. It is notable that in November, well before the current crisis, Jack Airey co-authored a report for Policy Exchange arguing for government funding for key worker housing (the last centrally funded programme in England having ended in 2004). In February, Mr Airey was appointed as the housing and policy special advisor at Number 10.
“The idea resonates but there’s no green light or cheques being ready to be signed,” Mr Ratcliff notes. Until that happens, actually delivering Homes for Heroes will only happen on the scale that social landlords can manage from their own surpluses.
Hear more about Homes for Heroes and its proposals at a webinar during Digital Housing Week – a week-long online conference – on 26 June, 2pm. Find out more at www.insidehousing.co.uk/events/digital-housing-week
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