Dan Ellwood

#Renew the North for growth in every postcode

The Northern Consortium has submitted its representation ahead of the Autumn Budget and is urging the Chancellor to #Renew the North.  

The Government can support councils and housing associations to drive growth in every postcode and unlock at least 500,000 good quality homes across the North by:  

  • Adjusting and further devolving existing funding to better support regeneration  
    • Give Mayors and combined authorities greater flexibility to use the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) for regeneration projects that meet local needs.  “Continuous Market Engagement” funding should not cap regeneration.  
    • Introduce Homes England performance measures focused on homes renewed and replaced, not just new homes delivered. Current indicators are heavily weighted towards new supply, limiting investment in regeneration projects across the North.  
    • Allocate National Housing Bank funding specifically for housing-led regeneration. This would help unlock schemes that are currently stalled by viability and funding challenges. 
    • Implement zero-rate VAT on building safety works and extend the zero-rating of energy-saving materials until 2030.This would maintain momentum in retrofitting, improving and regenerating older and colder homes. 
  • Establishing a new “Centre for Regeneration” in the North to build the capacity and capability needed to deliver regeneration at scale, while supporting Mayors with workforce development.  
  • Extending the term of the National Housing Delivery Fund to ten years, this will unlock all the North’s brownfield land and 320,000 new homes.   
  • Providing northern Mayors and combined authorities with devolved, place-based flexible funding of £500m per year alongside existing funding. Over ten years this investment would help transform the North’s 100,000 end-of-life social homes and enable Mayors to: 
    • Replace or refurbish end-of-life housing so residents can live in good quality social homes.    
    • Buy poor quality private homes, including empty homes, and turn them into safer and healthier social housing.  
    • Provide viability gap funding for strategically important regeneration schemes that deliver local benefits but are currently financially unviable. 

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:  

“The new Prime Minister has put housing, devolution and regeneration at the top of his agenda. Over the summer, I visited regeneration sites across the North and saw first-hand how housing-led regeneration is an essential part of driving growth in every postcode, making sure everyone has access to a good-quality home and creating thriving communities. However, despite the benefits, it remains challenging to deliver in the North. Lower land values and high remediation costs mean many regeneration schemes are simply not viable without Government support. 

“In our budget representation, we’ve set out changes the Government can make to unleash the potential of regeneration. Adjusting and further devolving existing funding to better support regeneration will have an immediate impact. Extending the National Housing Delivery Fund to ten years would unlock all the North’s brownfield land and 320,000 new homes.  

“To go further and make sure no one and nowhere is left behind, we are urging the Government to provide northern Mayors and combined authorities with devolved, place-based flexible funding of £500m per year alongside existing funding. Over ten years, this would transform the North’s 100,000 end-of-life social homes.

“Funding changes need to be underpinned by investment in capacity and capability. A new Centre for Regeneration would make sure regeneration can be delivered on the scale needed to drive growth in every postcode and transform communities in the North.” 

The Northern Housing Consortium is leading the Renew inquiry into housing-led regeneration for northern growth, supported by Homes for North and Muse. The Renew report found housing-led regeneration can unlock at least 500,000 good quality homes across the North of England. This includes reviving struggling high streets with over 100,000, new homes in town and city centres, building 320,000 homes on brownfield land and renewing or replacing 100,000 social homes in need of regeneration. 
 

Further information about Renew can be found here.