Low Demand
What is Low Demand?
Low demand for housing is a growing problem in some areas of the north and midlands of England. There are almost 1 million homes (937,000) located in areas of low demand for housing. That's roughly equivalent to the number of homes in a city twice the size of Birmingham. The Empty Homes Agency, an independent campaigning charity, recognises that problems of low demand for housing is the result of a number of complex and inter-related factors including housing market failure at a sub regional level.
Low demand areas are characterised by limited market choice, the departure of economically active households, poor conditions of unpopular housing, poor facilities and inadequate local services. Both the private and the social housing sectors are affected.
Why do we have low demand?
‘No-one wants to live here’
- Low demand is recognised to be a complex and inter-related problem.
- Many practitioners point to ‘neighbourhood failure’ as the cause of low demand due to factors including economic restructuring and demographic changes.
Push Factors
- Neighbourhoods in decline: anti-social behaviour and abandonment, crime, drugs and social & economic decline
- Predominance of a single tenure and dwelling type: (- typically Coronation Street pre 1919 terrace housing - see above picture) which in some cases, no longer meets peoples aspirations
- Stigma: Loss of neighbourhoods reputation
Market for social housing is diminishing while existing social housing tenants with more housing choice flee - ‘failing neighbourhoods’.
Pull Factors
- Leap frogging: People are more mobile with more housing choice (Cheaper housing and mortgages) and are choosing to leave inner urban areas for urban fringes
- Doughnut Effect: Too may homes are built and still being built on Greenfield sites. Cheap houses built on the urban fringes drains urban populations
- Most householders aspire to owner occupation. Householders with choice are relocating to more desirable areas where their housing investment is more secure, leaving behind older householders, those that are less economically mobile and householders trapped in negative equity
The Agency acknowledges that local authorities and Registered Social Landlords do not have the capacity to tackle low demand and the failing housing market because ‘housing management’ alone will not provide the solutions. What is needed is a sub regional response involving all the major stakeholders (a multi-agency approach) to tackle housing market failure and to help prevent the spread of low demand to other neighbouring areas.
The EHA endorses the provision of additional Government funding to tackle low demand for housing and housing market failure.
The Agency will be calling for the development of effective community partnerships at local level and for the meaningful involvement of the community sector in developing strategies at regional and sub-regional level to tackle low demand for housing & housing market failure.
The Agency also believes the failure to fully implement revised planning guidance, PPG3 on Housing, is undermining urban regeneration. EHA is calling for more effective implementation of PPG3 to ensure priority is given to making use of ‘red field’ land and ‘brown-field’ land, before green-field land, for new house building.
The Agency supports proposals for a) the licensing of private sector landlords and b) giving local authorities discretion to charge full council tax on empty property where this is appropriate.
The Agency will continue to inform and encourage all housing sectors to consider the various tools and initiatives to tackle low demand and housing market failure – full details are available on our website – www.emptyhomes.com and can be freely downloaded for individual use.
The EHA believes that the solution to low demand needs a sub regional approach, bringing together local and regional government, Registered Social Landlords, and other major stakeholders to develop and implement a strategy to tackle low demand and housing market failure at the regional and sub regional level.
Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders
The Sustainable Communities Plan, published on 5th February 2003, provides the Government framework for a major programme of action that will, over the next 15-20 years, tackle the pressing problems of communities across England. One of the key areas forming the basis for the action programme is the tackling of low housing demand and housing abandonment: sustained action to turn round areas where housing markets have failed. Over the next three years, £500 million is being made available for some of the worst affected areas, known as Pathfinder market renewal areas, with the intention of reversing low demand by 2010.
There are nine Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder areas:
Birmingham and Sandwell
East Lancashire
Humberside
Manchester and Salford
Merseyside
Newcastle and Gateshead
North Staffordshire
Oldham and Rochdale
South Yorkshire
Partnerships of local authorities and other major key stakeholders will develop strategic plans for whole housing markets. The bulk of the Market Renewal Fund will be allocated following negotiation with each Pathfinder on the basis of outputs and outcomes included in their strategic schemes. Over a 10 to 15 year timeframe, the schemes will involve radical and sustained action to replace obsolete housing with modern sustainable accommodation, through demolition, refurbishment and new build. They will also ensure the other essential requirements of sustainable communities i.e ‘Community Anchors’ (eg’s good schools, shopping centres and open spaces) are addressed, such as good quality customer-focused services, good design and delivering clean, safe, healthy and attractive environments in which people can take pride. The Market Renewal Programme will be supported by other initiatives such as Neighbourhood Renewal and New Deal for Communities, and by 2005 the Government expects these strategic action plans in place and work commencing on large scale clearance, refurbishment and new build, complemented by improvements in local services.
Historically the work of the Empty Homes Agency has been focussed on the issue of empty properties in areas of high demand. This position was fundamentally challenged by our Community Fund project, which ended in 2002. This project, working closely with communities in areas of low demand, demonstrated to the Agency the importance of expanding our work to include solutions to empty homes in low demand areas, where high demand solutions clearly will not be effective. Since 2002 the Agency has worked hard to include solutions to empty homes in low demand areas as a key part of our national remit.
As a result of this strategic change in direction, the Agency welcomed both the scope and the scale of initiatives proposed and underway in the Government's Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder areas. We were fully in support of the broad philosophy of the pathfinders working across local authority boundaries and developing very long-term time-lines. As will become clear below we have a few reservations about the direction of this work, but we are totally in support of the broad thrust of this exciting programme to tackle the issue of low demand in housing.
The Agency also secured a new Community Fund (now known as The Big Lottery) grant over three years specifically to support communities in areas of low demand. We now have a Northern office, based in Barnsley and a sub-office in Sheffield and have two full-time staff, (Low Demand Project Manager and a Community Support Worker) working on this exciting new project.
Whilst we have been keen to support the pathfinder initiative, we remain concerned at the level of support and resources going into areas outside of the pathfinders. We have been overwhelmed by the high level of interest from local authorities and RSLs in our low demand project. There is a real appetite for ideas and good practice on low demand in such areas.
At the start of any such initiative such as this, it was never going to be possible to include all low demand areas and failing housing markets within the pathfinder areas. Yet there must also be a realisation that the pathfinders do not include all the challenges on low demand and there is a real need for support and resources to non-pathfinder areas working on low demand. The recent announcement, by OPDM, to include major funding for other ‘non-path finder’ areas, such as Tees Valley and West Yorkshire is very welcome.
The Empty Homes Agency, through its work with local authorities and RSLs, is keen to continue promoting good practice around the country such as through our Annual Empty Property Awards, where an award is given annually for the Best Low Demand Strategy. The Low Demand Project Manager has spoken at several housing seminars, run workshops on empty homes and low demand issues at national and regional Conferences of BURA, the Chartered Institute of Housing, TPAS, Urban Forum and is continuing to do so in an effort to disseminate good practice and innovation. We are keen to assist in this area of work, but do believe that there needs to be greater national co-ordination and the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement at the Sustainable Communities Summit 2005 to create a National Academy in Leeds, is a major step forward in this area.
The Agency jointly ran (with the Chartered Institute of Housing) a Low Demand conference entitled: - ‘Tackling your Empty Homes and Low Demand - Helps to Sustain our Communities! in the north of England on the 25th May 2005.
Another positive result of the determined drive of dissemination of good practice and innovation by the EHA, the Low Demand Project Manager has been appointed to the ODPM’s Advisory Network of the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinder programme. It is hoped that in this area of low demand for housing, (and in the not too distant future), that there will be found many examples of good, sound innovative ideas that will resolve some, if not all of the current national ‘negativity’ issues surrounding the pathfinders – see www.fightforourhomes.com. Whilst it is our opinion, that there is the need for some ‘minor’ demolitions in some areas, the Empty Homes Agency is looking to the Pathfinders for more consultation, more fresh thinking and more refurbishment as the answer.
Now that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Housing, Planning,
Local Government and the Regions Committee have considered all the ‘Written Evidence’ which was submitted to them as part of the HMR programme, the Empty Homes Agency looks forward a more unified national approach to tackling the problems of Empty Homes and Low Demand in England.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Housing, Planning,
Local Government and the Regions Committee has also published it’s Eighth Report of Session 2004-05 (for full details please click on the link below)
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmodpm/295/295.pdf
It is hoped, that by major stakeholders continually working together and sharing their experiences (good and bad) and also sharing their good practice examples, innovation and knowledge, that the whole issue of empty homes and low demand will be resolved much earlier that anticipated.