We need a step-change in our approach to regeneration in this country

Here at PlaceShapers, we share the same vision for housing in England as others who work in our sector. We want everyone to have a warm, safe, affordable home, but we also want more than that. We want people to live in thriving communities, where they have access to the opportunities they need to live well.

Building new homes that add to our overall supply of social housing will be a huge part of achieving this vision. But if the government is serious about repairing the fabric of Britain, as Rachel Reeves said in her budget speech, then we also need its housing strategy to include bold ambitions on regenerating our existing homes, estates and communities.

The money available to improve the energy efficiency of homes is welcome and necessary and the sector will rightly argue that any new expectations set out in the Decent Homes 2 Standard should come with additional funding. But what we are talking about is having a plan for the homes that have come to end of their lives and are no longer fit for purpose and a plan for the communities that need new services, green space, and access to employment.

For too long, housing associations and local authorities have had to piece together bits of funding to do what they can to create not just great homes, but places where people want to live. For a brief period, we thought levelling up could be the answer to the regeneration challenge for some places, but our optimism turned out to be misplaced.

The flexibility in the Affordable Homes Programme to allow money to be spent on demolition and reprovision goes some way to addressing this need, particularly now the rules have been relaxed on additionality, but what we really need is a step-change in our approach to regeneration in this country.

Proper funding and support for regeneration could unlock the potential of communities across the country which have been held back for too long.

You only have to look at Castle Vale in Birmingham, now mostly owned and managed by Pioneer Housing, to see how creating the right structures, organisations and partnerships as part of a holistic approach to regeneration back in the late 80s left a legacy that is still evident today. 

In Speke in South Liverpool, there is a derelict block of flats and shops that suffer from anti-social behaviour. South Liverpool Homes have ambitions to transform the area, delivering much needed high-quality homes for older people and job opportunities for local people in the retail unit, but the challenges with regeneration means this site has been unused for 15 years. They are now progressing their plans through a combination of a additional grant, Recycled Capital Grant funding, and the income from the commercial site.

Regeneration does require public investment to deliver the kind of lasting impact that is necessary, but given it takes time to deliver and have an impact, and it won’t add to the target of building 1.5 million homes over this Parliament in the same way new towns can, there is a real risk it will not be a funding priority.

The Labour Party Manifesto referred to regeneration in the section on getting Britain building again, but since then all of the debate has been about building new homes. We don’t want to detract from the overall message that building new homes, and new social housing, is critical to ending this escalating housing crisis, particularly given it has taken years of hard work to get that message to land with politicians.

But regeneration, done well, can restore pride and belonging to places ‘left behind’, it can improve people’s homes and quality of life, the environment, the public realm, and the health of local people. And it can contribute to the government’s ambitions around economic growth by opening up new employment opportunities to people currently held back by their circumstances.

At the very least, when the next Affordable Homes Programme comes forward, we need to see an extension to the current flexibility to allow money to be spent on regenerating existing homes. But, if the government can be persuaded to think long-term and outside of departmental silos, then we have a chance at convincing it that regeneration should be a key feature of its Housing Strategy and an important response to the housing crisis in many parts of the country.