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New 'homes for heroes' campaign sets out proposals to create 100,000 homes for coronavirus keyworkers
A campaign for a new “Homes for Heroes” programme to create 100,000 more affordable homes for essential workers after the coronavirus pandemic has been launched, with backers including the G15 group and Places for People.
The G15 group, which represents London’s 12 largest associations, published the proposal for a national programme of constructing 100,000 low-cost homes over five years, which will be prioritised for key workers who have put themselves at risk during the pandemic.
The call was backed by an alliance of large housing association, Places for People, offsite manufacturing firms including Legal & General Modular Homes, Ilke Homes and Project Etopia and the British Property Federation.
It draws inspiration from the ‘Homes Fit for Heroes’ programme that welcomed soldiers back from the war 100 years ago.
The G15 said that according to the government’s definition of ‘key worker’, there are more than one million in London alone.
The group suggested there could be an “initial burst” 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.
“A longer-term and more ambitious programme should follow closely behind, to properly thanks heroes with tens of thousands of homes,” the G15 added in its document setting out the proposal.
These should include a mixture of tenures including social rent homes, discounted rent homes and part buy, the G15 said.
The vast majority of these planned homes will be factory built and placed on housing association and public sector land within the next five years.
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The G15’s Home for Heroes report identified three key actions needed to deliver the 100,000 homes:
- Make available additional funding to immediately create Homes for Heroes. Government and associations should provide funding to convert unsold homes in London into affordable homes for key workers.
- Scale up a partnership to deliver a five-year programme. Civil society should lead a national campaign for donations, offering everyone a chance to directly contribute to this collective effort.
- Take radical steps to make sufficient land available for the deliver of homes in the long run. The Treasury should remove restrictions on public bodies requiring them to get best market value on land sold to “unleash huge untapped capacity” of land to build homes.
Helen Evans, chair of the G15 and chief executive of Network Homes, said: “Essential workers on the frontline of this crisis are often among the lowest paid in society.
“Homes for Heroes is about giving these people a safe, secure and genuinely affordable home to live in.
"With the collaboration of government and the housing sector, both private and social, we can bring forward a once-in-a-generation number of new homes for our essential workers, including those not eligible for traditional key-worker housing. Homes will be well designed, with private outdoor space, in convenient well-connected locations for healthcare facilities, schools and other employment hubs."
David Cowans, group chief executive of Places for People, said: "We have long been supporters of MMC as we believe placemaking organisations should be proactive in shaping a greener future for homes that creates less waste and prioritises speed and quality. The Homes for Heroes campaign brings together institutional investors, housing associations and offsite manufacturers around a fantastic initiative that will help provide high-quality modern homes for our key workers and boost this emerging manufacturing sector.”
The backers of the campaign are:
- The G15 group - A2 Dominion, Catalyst, Clarion, Hyde, L&Q, Metropolitan Thames Valley, Network, Notting Hill Genesis, Optivo, One, Peabody and Southern
- Watford Community Housing
- Places for People
- Legal & General
- Assael
- ilke Homes
- Vision Modular Systems
- Project Etopia
- Tophat
- Create Streets
- Mark Farmer, the government’s MMC champion for homebuilding
Update on 12.5.2020 at 12.15pm:
This story was updated to make it clear that a number of organisations support the campaign and a full list of supporters was added at the bottom.
