The English Devolution White Paper published this week, is big news for the North.

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:

“Since the Commission for Housing in North in 2016, we’ve been calling for more local control to drive growth and opportunity in the North, and to make sure the diverse needs of communities across the North are met.

“Deeper devolution – including planning, skills and transport – to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs), is very welcome. MCAs are well set up to convene and work with partners, including local authorities and housing partnerships, so it will help our members be part of joined-up, place-based approaches.

“The paper proposes giving MCAs more power and control over housing, regeneration and retrofit funding – something we’ve argued for strongly in our recent papers on brownfield redevelopment and warm homes. We found that centralised funding models were a barrier to MCAs delivering the change needed in their local communities.

“It also talks about local regeneration and a new version of the Long-Term Plan for Towns drawing on the New Deal for Communities. We look forward to working with NHC members to help shape and deliver this.”

We will share a more detailed briefing about the White Paper in the New Year, but our initial reflections are that it offers lots of opportunities for members to make a bigger difference to the communities they serve.

You can read the English Devolution White Paper here.

We have appointed a new chair, vice chair and four new board members to join our member-led board. The board will continue to support our mission to be the voice of the North and make sure everyone has access to a good quality home they can afford.

We are pleased to welcome Charlie Norman, Chief Executive of Mosscare St Vincent’s Housing Group (MSV), as the new Chair of the NHC. Charlie replaces outgoing Chair, Paul Fiddaman, Chief Executive of Karbon Homes.

Chair of Outward Housing and Newlon Housing board member, and former Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) senior civil servant Jane Everton  CBE will step up to be Vice Chair.

Rachael Dennis, Chief Executive of Incommunities; Tracy Gordon, Lead Officer for Housing Partnerships at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority; Steve Hepworth, Chief Executive of Ongo Homes; and Noel Sharpe, Group Chief Executive Officer of Bolton at Home, all take on the role of board members.

NHC Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison, welcomed the new board members, saying:

“We feel incredibly lucky to be able to appoint such an experienced and knowledgeable group of people, who bring with them many years of expertise from the housing, environmental sustainability and public sectors.

“They begin their new roles at an exciting time, as our new government continues to prioritise housing. Every board member’s expertise is valuable, as we support our member organisations to work in partnership with government to deliver real change for communities across the North. They will also play a key role in supporting our new corporate plan which will launch in spring 2025.”

She added:

“I’ve worked with Charlie for several years now and know she will bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm to the role of Chair. I’d also like to thank Paul Fiddaman for his leadership and support over the past four years.  I know we will continue to work with him closely.”

 Charlie Norman, who previously held the position of vice chair and a member of the board for five years, has worked in the housing sector for over 30 years, both across the North West of England and in Vancouver, Canada. She has a background in community and co-operative development, neighbourhood management, supported housing and regeneration, and is Chair of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers Partnership.

Charlie said:

“The NHC is a unique organisation bringing together housing associations, local authorities and combined authorities from across the North. It’s a fantastic vehicle for sharing different perspectives, collaborating and learning from each other – that feels more important than ever.

“I’m honoured to become Chair at such a crucial time, working with a fantastic board and the wonderful team at NHC. The NHC has been right to prioritise regeneration and green homes and jobs in the North, and there is an opportunity to increase our influence with the new government. Devolution in the North is growing which is driving even more partnership working and will hopefully help target investment where it’s needed most.”

 New NHC Vice Chair, Jane Everton, joined the board in 2022. She had a long career as a senior civil servant in Whitehall including leading MHCLG’s social housing division, as well as working on the private rented sector and planning. She was awarded a CBE for public service in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2015.

New board member, Rachael Dennis, has been chief executive at Incommunities since February 2021 and has more than 20 years of senior experience in housing. She has a background in strategic leadership, delivering change and business improvement, strategic finance and governance.

Tracy Gordon brings almost 30 years’ experience in the public sector, covering both environmental sustainability and housing. Tracy joined Liverpool City Region Combined Authority in 2019 and has established several new build and retrofit housing programmes, overseeing the housing element of the Net Zero Carbon plan and leading the North West Net Zero Hub.

Chief Executive of Ongo Homes, Steve Hepworth, has more than 30 years of experience in social housing and has worked at Ongo since 2007, taking on the role of Chief Executive in 2018. Whilst working for North Lincolnshire Council, he led the team responsible for consultation with tenants that resulted in the formation of North Lincolnshire Homes and the transfer of 10,000 homes from the council.

Noel Sharpe has been working in social housing in the North West at an executive level for over 20 years, working in London for 10 years before that. She has a keen interest in the relationship between health, wellbeing and good quality homes, and is also currently Vice Chair of the Greater Manchester Housing Partnership.

The new members, along with the nine existing members of the board, will play a key role in shaping our new corporate plan, which will launch in spring 2025.

Find out more about Northern Housing Consortium’s board members at www.northern-consortium.org.uk/about-northern-housing-consortium/our-board/.

Earlier this month, the Northern Housing Consortium submitted its representation to HM Treasury in the run up to the new government’s first Autumn Budget, set to take place on 30^th October.

Our representation focused on how the new government can support the North’s housing sector to deliver on the government’s ambitions, including building 1.5 million new homes in this parliament, delivering the Warm Homes Plan and improving housing quality in both the social and private rental sectors, by providing the long-term funding certainty that providers need to plan their own investments.

The most important thing that we need to see from government, however, is an immediate two-year extension to the current Homes England Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). Our members, especially small and medium members who access Homes England grant through the Continuous Market Engagement (CME) mechanism, report that they can no longer access grant to develop new homes, as the current programme is now essentially out of funds. If providers cannot access grant funding upon which their development programmes rely, they will not be able to bring forward schemes, even if they have been identified and are ready to progress. This cannot wait until a new AHP commences in 2026 as schemes that have been identified will be at risk of falling through between then and now. A survey of a small number of NHC members found that there are more than 1,500 homes ready for development that cannot now commence due to funding uncertainty. This issue will be much larger across the North. This data was fed in to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Without an extension to the current programme, it is likely that affordable housing starts fall in the near future, taking years to subsequently recover. This will make it much harder for the government to achieve its target of hitting its target of building 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years.

The major policy asks to support the housing sector in the North are:

1. A two-year extension to the existing Affordable Homes Programme to keep housing providers developing the homes we need, ahead of announcing a new post-2026 programme that can support regeneration and has the flexibility to work with Mayoral Combined Authorities to deliver on local priorities.

 

2. A new ten-year rent settlement of CPI +1% for social landlords so they can effectively plan their own investments in new and existing homes.

 

3. A long-term funding commitment for the decarbonisation of the North’s social housing stock of £500 million a year between 2025 and 2030, with a commitment to increase funding to minimum of £1 billion per year from 2030-2035, to cut carbon emissions, tackle fuel poverty and support the creation of up to 77,000 new good green jobs in the North.

 

4. A ten-year, £4.2 billion, programme of devolved brownfield funding to unlock the delivery of 320,000 new homes by remediating all identified brownfield land in the North of England. This needs to be based on a more comprehensive assessment of total project benefits in line with updated value-for-money methodology.

 

5. The government to consult on both funding and regulation, including a new Decent Homes Standard for both rental sectors, to tackle the challenges with the existing housing stock and the need to regenerate communities across the North. This will also need to include increased capacity funding for local authorities to effectively enforce any regulatory requirements in the private rental sector.

 

6. Permanently linking Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30^th percentile of local market rents to ensure private rental sector affordability and prevent future rises in homelessness

 

Tracy Harrison, Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive, said:

“Our budget representation has focused on how the Government can target investment to enable our members to make a real difference to communities across the North. They’re  ready and waiting to support the Government to deliver new homes,  warmer homes and to regenerate communities.

“However, to deliver this change members need funding certainty. A priority is an immediate two-year extension to the existing Affordable Housing Programme. Our members, particularly smaller and medium sized providers developing through Continuous Market Engagement, report that they can no longer access grant to build new affordable homes despite having schemes that are ready to start development, stalling the delivery of much-needed homes. This must be followed by a longer-term Affordable Homes programme which will be a key part of fulfilling the government’s ambition to build £1.5 million homes over the next parliament.

Other measures which will provide members with certainty to develop and invest in homes include a ten-year rent settlement at CPI + 1% and a £4.2 billion ten year brownfield remediation fund. Investing in decarbonising the North’s homes will pay dividends – £500m investment per year over the next five years and 1 billion for the following five years would cut fuel poverty and carbon emissions and help to create 77,000 good green jobs in the North.

“The government should also provide much-needed security to those in the private rented sector on low incomes and permanently link local housing allowance to the 30^th percentile of local market rents to prevent future rises in homelessness. The private rented sector has also been consistently shown to offer the lowest quality homes – it is vital that the government takes forward proposals to apply the new Decent Homes Standard to both the social and private rented sector, following effective consultation with the sector. They must also consult on funding and regulation to so we can work together to tackle the challenges with existing homes and the need to regenerate communities in the North.

“We must also recognise there isn’t ‘a one size fit’s all’ solution. If we want funding to address local issues there needs to be devolution where local leaders, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, are given the flexibility to use their funding where it’s going to bring the most benefit – for example, ensuring all areas can benefit from brownfield funding investment, not just those with high land values. We are pleased that the Labour Party was supportive of devolution in their manifesto and our members are already working to make their ambitions a reality.”

 

The full representation is available here.

As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, we held a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons.

Lord Best OBE DL hosted this special event and was joined by housing leaders, senior civil servants, parliamentarians, residents and community representatives. The reception reflected on the achievements of the past, current challenges, and explored how together we can create great homes and communities in the future.

Alongside Lord Best OBE DL speakers were NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison; MP for Blaydon and Consett Liz Twist; Yorkshire Housing resident and Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury juror Terry Tasker; NHC Board member Jane Everton; and Onward Homes CEO & NHC Board member Bronwen Rapley.

Liz Twist MP spoke about the work of the NHC and the all-party party parliamentary group to support housing in the North, and the importance of finding specific solutions for every community.

Key themes discussed included the role the NHC plays in bringing the sector together, and the importance of engaging with residents and putting them at the heart of decisions.

 

Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive, Northern Housing Consortium, said:

“It was fantastic to get together with senior civil servants, NHC board members and parliamentarians at the House of Commons to reflect on what the NHC has achieved over the past 50 years and to discuss the impact of the new Government’s focus on affordable and sustainable housing. Being here right at the start of this new parliament made the day particularly special.”

“It was also encouraging to hear our offer to the new Government ‘Building the Future of Housing in the North’

referenced consistently throughout the day, alongside plans to maximise opportunities for the North.  It was very clear from the speakers that the sector is ready to kickstart change for the future and do things with a long-term outlook. We are excited to start delivering our plans.”