Regeneration - saving our past and building our future

By 2034, if we have solved the housing crisis, most people will be living in homes that are built today. New homes are vital to meet established housing need, but so are our existing homes. And some of those homes, and areas, are in a sorry state. 

If you live in an area that needs investment you will live with a sense of abandonment and exclusion from the opportunities that may be open to others. You will spend a disproportionate amount of your income on keeping warm and on food and you may, on occasions, have to choose between the two. You will be cut off from opportunity because there is little or no transport to where the jobs are. There are areas like this across the whole of the UK and a real concentration of them in former industrial heartlands in the north.

Many homes in areas of multiple deprivation are at, or beyond, the end of their lives, or do not meet the needs of the community that lives there. They need more than a lick of paint and a new kitchen. The whole fabric of the building needs to be refurbished. This is costly and, in a time where there has been no funding for transformative reinvestment for 14 years and rents are constrained, housing associations and councils have to dispose of homes they would much rather refurbish and relet. Add this to the homes lost through Right to Buy and Right to Acquire, and if we do not have some investment in existing homes then we will be losing homes at the same time as we are desperately trying to build more. 

The people who live in these areas though have a strong sense of community and huge strengths. If we could tap into the best of the community, they would become the drivers and deliverers of change. Sometimes people just need a hand up. 

If we are to solve the housing crisis, we have to save existing homes and places, as well as build new ones. If we do it right, we could use the investment in new homes to lift areas and if this is combined with investment in existing homes and communities, we could revitalise whole areas. Building on our renewal programme, we must also prepare our homes and communities for a carbon net zero future, to be resilient to climate change impacts and take advantage of the economic growth this will drive and the skills and training opportunities it will create. 

At Onward we are investing in terraced homes in North Liverpool, Oldham and Accrington using sustainability funding (SHDF) and our own resources to improve the external envelope of the home so that it will be fit for the next 40 years. Working with our residents, the investment boosts their sense of pride and wellbeing. We own enough homes in some areas to mean that when we invest in a street, we can lift the look of the whole street and that can encourage private owners to invest too. Where we can, building new homes can also make a massive difference to lift an area. When a community feels that it is noticed and that others have confidence in it, it breeds confidence and a virtuous cycle of renewal begins rather than the downward spiral of dereliction.   

This principle applies to larger areas too and here we have examples over the last 20 years of transformation of whole areas. In Hattersley and Mottram investment by government, local authorities, private developers and housing associations have transformed the area into what one resident once described to me as ‘boring suburbia’.   

In Ancoats in Manchester sustained public investment over a period of 20 years has brought a whole area out of dereliction, building thousands of new homes and becoming one of the most desirable areas of the country to live in.   

Transformation can be achieved and we do know how to do it, but it takes patience and long term investment. This is where the government’s housing strategy must come in. 

The housing strategy must include a plan to renew areas that have fallen into decline.  The reasons for decline are complex but often are linked to a loss of jobs as industries and their requirements have changed. A comprehensive strategy for jobs, transport and housing is critical to revitalise areas in decline and deliver both economic growth and community regeneration. Change will take time and the strategy should clearly map out long term aspirations and shorter term goals so that progress can be tangible and measured, and course correction be taken if needed in the next few years.  

There is a critical role for government here be it national, regional or local. Regeneration takes many years and having an anchor to take the early risk and invest will in time reap huge benefits as other organisations gain confidence to invest and value grows. The scale of investment now needed for long term change is significant and the current financial model is already strained – we are at the moment of inflection that requires a commensurate shift in the financial model. 

As a member of Homes for the North, Onward has worked with 16 other housing associations across the North to identify 80 strategic sites which together could deliver 42,920 homes (81% on brownfield land), investment of £5.2bn and an uplift in national GDP of £3.9bn. Our plan for More and Better Homes shows how investment at scale in existing communities can allow more homes to be built whilst securing a future for existing communities – a win-win. 

We know how to do this. A new housing strategy for the country gives us the first opportunity in a generation to deliver the transformational change that will save our past and build our future.