Not bad, overall

The ODPM’s major evaluation of housing policy in England between 1975 and 2000, published last week, provides us not only with lessons from the past but highlights a number of challenges for the future. And coming as it does after the announcement of the five year plan – Homes for All – and the major Delivering Sustainable Communities Summit held at the end of January in Manchester, it seems particularly timely.

The report describes how housing quality improved on average over the past 25 years, although some problems remain. Choice increased for the majority and safety nets for the vulnerable were strengthened. A rise in home ownership and house prices have spread housing wealth more widely, but this has created problems for would-be new entrants to owner-occupation.

There is a shortage of housing in some areas and the gaps between tenures and areas are still too wide. For example, social tenants have lower-than-average incomes compared with owner-occupiers and the poorest households are more concentrated in council and housing association homes in this country compared with their counterparts in other European countries.

It is reassuring then that the researchers found evidence of good governance and few instances of waste of government funds. But they did find that policies often had unintended and sometimes undesirable consequences, such as with right to buy and homelessness legislation, which concentrated poorer households in social rented housing, as well as wider economic changes and housing market restructuring.

Policies are most successful when they go with the grain of economic and social change. So obviously then housing policies are only one aspect in shaping wider housing systems and wider economic and social contexts are at least as important.

The researchers have given a mixed assessment of policies up to 2000 and call for greater coherence between housing policies and other policies. Fair enough, but I believe the government has moved on and responded to many of the issues raised. Homes For All, for instance, takes forward the Communities Plan agenda, setting out a strategy for greater choice and opportunity in housing in the UK.

The authors also pose a number of challenges for future housing policies, including giving greater emphasis on building new social homes for renting.

Here we are making much progress.

Last June’s spending review settlement is helping us to achieve an increase of 50% in supply, with an extra 10,000 new homes each year by 2008. Moving towards considering supply and demand together and in a regional context is what our plans for merging regional housing and planning bodies are designed to deliver. We have also modernised the right to buy.

One of the toughest calls has been to create greater choice for tenants. That is why we have set a target for all councils to adopt choice-based lettings systems and are expanding choice-based lettings nationwide to cover all forms social housing, all by 2010. Another challenge is to improve management of social housing. The recent comprehensive performance assessment results show housing services have continued to improve overall. We will work with the Audit Commission to ensure this is maintained.

The research team point out that emerging challenges have not always been anticipated by governments. We must always bear this in mind and we will strive to ensure that our policies continue to be geared towards the future.

Read the report at www.odpm.gov.uk