The sheer scale of potential change is exhilarating at the same time as being incredibly daunting. The acid test lies in whether the HMRAs will deliver market restructuring that embraces economic and housing success, cutting across the myriad conflicting aims and objectives of the stakeholder partners.
The nub of the HMRA is to reduce the number of failed and failing housing areas where sustainable demand has fallen away. Each pathfinder faces a very different set of issues and the drivers of decline, and of resurgence, differ widely. You've probably noticed from the press that recruitment is under way at the moment for (paid) chairs, directors and team members, and as I understand it, the new pathfinder teams will spend the next 12 months or so developing prospectuses for their areas.
The prospectuses will set out an overview of the area and an assessment of what is needed to make it sustainable. It sounds so easy, doesn't it? But these are big areas; we're talking up to 100,000 homes. The scale of the task involved is massive. Some of the components are in place – new private sector renewal powers for local authorities, the HMRA fund itself, emerging good practice in creating sustainable communities. Other issues, such as the interface between HMRA objectives and planning, say, undoubtedly need more consideration.
It would be amazing if the strategies that emerge from the HMRA partnerships fitted neatly into existing area planning, transport or employment frameworks. Setting up a delegated system of amending adopted plans and policies will be an important component of the framework for delivery.
The beauty of the HMRAs is that they are driven by the market, not politics
As with all regeneration initiatives, the HMRAs will adopt a collaborative approach to developing new plans. Sensitivity will be key to handling the impact of HMRA plans on established and adopted urban policy frameworks. Other obvious sensitivities arise between the HMRA delivery plan, and other stakeholders such as registered social landlords. RSL-owned dwellings account for some 25% of the total housing stock, in some neighbourhoods included in some of the pathfinder areas. Each RSL already has a business plan and asset management strategy that may or may not marry up with the new vision for the area.
The impact is greatest on residents. They can face losing a home in which they might have little equity, but a big emotional stake. Providing a range of alternative housing solutions for local people is a prerequisite of successful restructuring.
All of these tensions must be addressed. The beauty of the HMRAs is that they are driven by the market, not politics. The adoption of a masterplan should achieve some degree of consensus among the affected parties.
Developing the prospectus and delivering the vision presents a challenge to the skills and capacity of the public and private sector alike. Skills shortages in the housing sector are mirrored in other key policy areas. The pathfinders face one of the biggest challenges in the sector and they really need to build highly skilled and motivated teams, with the stamina to drive the new opportunity to fruition.
Source
Housing Today
Postscript
Helen Nicholson is a director of Hacas Chapman Hendy
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