Engagement and evidence: making sure the new Government hear the voice of housing in the North

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Last year’s change of government was the first in 14 years and a key moment for the housing sector. It’s been reassuring and refreshing to see that tackling the housing crisis is high on the new Government’s agenda. The message from the outset is that they are listening and keen to work in partnership with us and our members.

The past six months has been critical for building relationships with the new Government and gathering evidence to help set the agenda for the rest of parliament. We are having constructive discussions with those at the centre of Government and offering a unique Northern perspective. We’ve attended several roundtables with Ministers since coming into office, including one with the Deputy Prime Minister.

Our Spending Review submission is the culmination of our policy and engagement work following the general election last summer. A big thank you to members for your support and input into this work.

We are continuing to meet and work with politicians and Government officials in the run up to the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement this summer.

Below is a summary of what we have delivered for members over the past six months with links to resources.

Policy publications – working with members on an evidence base to influence government

  • We launched Building the Future for Housing in the North ahead of the general election.  This set out our offer to the next government to transform communities in the North and enable thousands more northerners to live in good quality homes.
  • We launched new research – Brownfield First – and a companion paper exploring HMT value-for-money rules, which highlighted the opportunity for brownfield development in the North and issues with centralised funding pots which are holding members back.

    This was supported by a tour for senior civil servants at Ministry Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and a roundtable with Northern Combined Authorities to highlight the issues and opportunities. We’ve also held subsequent discussions with key officials on HMT value-for-money rules. We are seeing significant progress on this front, with proposals for devolution of brownfield funding in the English Devolution White Paper.

  • Our in-depth research – Warm Homes, Green Jobs – was launched at an event at the Labour Party conference and we held a detailed briefing session for key Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) civil servants about findings. The paper looks at how the social housing sector can take the lead in delivering warmer, greener homes across the North and unlock a new generation of green jobs. Since the release of the paper further funding has been announced through the Warm Homes Social Housing fund and more local control of funding for net zero and workforce development is proposed in the English Devolution White Paper.
  • We shared the Northern Housing Monitor Keynote Chapter: Housing Poverty in the North – an old challenge with a new look, at the Northern Housing Summit. It highlighted the scale of housing poverty in the North and has provided important insights which have fed into our Spending Review submission.
  • Following discussions with officials at Ministry Housing, Communities and Local Government we surveyed members on regeneration. A big thank you to those who contributed to the survey. We’ve fed findings back to the department and met with key officials already to help them build a case for regeneration funding at the Spending Review and have used the data to inform our Spending Review submission. I will be able to give a more comprehensive update on this research over the next few weeks, and I expect it will play a big part in work on regeneration we have planned over the next few months.
  • We supported the Fabian Society’s Home Comforts research, which looked at new approaches to addressing housing quality issues, in particular in the private rented sector. We are supporting the Fabian Society in their work to engage with Government and politicians on the outcomes of this research, including taking part in a roundtable with the new Chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee later this month.

Engagement and events – bringing members, politicians and other key stakeholders together

Responding to policy announcements – Government consultations and member briefings

  • We responded to Government consultations on:
    •  The National Planning Policy Framework.
    • The Budget. Ahead of the Budget, and our budget representation, we fed in member data on stalled sites to support officials make the case to HMT for a top-up and extension to the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).  £500m AHP funding was announced in the Budget.
    •  The rent settlement. Along with other sector organisations, including Chartered Institute of Housing, we co-commissioned new analysis from Savills to support our submission calling for a ten-year settlement of CPI+1% and the return of rent convergence.
    • Right to Buy – we called for further reform to limit loss of social housing with more local control for councils.
  • We’ve kept members up to date with comprehensive briefings on the outcome of the general election, the King’s Speech, the Autumn Budget and the English Devolution White Paper.

We look forward to continuing to work with members to secure the best outcomes for communities in the North over the spending review period and beyond.

If you have any questions or would like to get more involved with our influencing work contact NHC Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs Patrick Murray patrick.murray@northern-consortium.org.uk