First of all, remember that the deputy prime minister didn't promise all those homes would actually get built, or that they would be affordable. He came up with the figure of 200,000 in his speech detailing how the money promised for housing in the comprehensive spending review would be spent, but that's just how many he believes could be created in "the growth areas". The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will decide how to allocate the funding earmarked for new homes when MPs get back from their summer break in October.
But Prescott has mentioned which areas could support the new housing: London, the Thames Gateway regeneration area, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, Stansted in Essex and Ashford in Kent. He has not promised that the money will go there, but these are all areas of "planned economic growth" and regeneration. Ashford and the Thames Gateway, for example, will both be hubs on the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. When the link opens in 2007, it will create jobs and promote development in those areas, so housing will be needed.
Prescott has also boosted English Partnerships' "millennium community" programme of high-density, mixed-tenure developments. He added three sites – East Ketley in the West Midlands, Oakgrove in Milton Keynes and Hastings in Sussex – constituting 2000 homes on top of the 4000 planned at the existing communities of Allerton Bywater in West Yorkshire, Cardroom in Manchester, Nar-Ouse in Norfolk and Greenwich in south-east London.
Can those areas cope?
Chancellor Gordon Brown is known to be frustrated at what he sees as economic success being hampered by the planning system. Housing for key staff is seen as essential to growth, and Brown is aware that housebuilding is at its lowest level in 77 years. The government is piling pressure on councils to meet planning guidance targets, culminating in Prescott's threat to "intervene" where he does not feel these targets are being met.
But planners and ministers alike admit the South-east cannot cope with the extra homes unless its infrastructure is improved. Tim Williams, Thames Gateway London Partnership director, has warned that roads, schools, health and shopping facilities and transport links must be in place if the area is to take the strain of additional homes. And some councils – notably Kent – rail against "the concreting-over of the countryside".
But the National Housing Federation believes the area can take the strain. Higher densities of 30 homes per hectare, 60% housebuilding on brownfield sites and the revival of English Partnerships' gap-funding scheme for the recycling of brownfield land will all help housing associations rise to the task, says Bernadette Stokoe, NHF head of south regions.
How far will the extra money stretch?
Not very far, according to the House Builders Federation. Spokesman Pierre Williams says the extra £1bn allocated to the sector in the spending review is hardly going to dent the affordable housing crisis in a region with surging land values.
The NHF's Stokoe is similarly unimpressed. She says: "Apart from the four growth areas, there is unlikely to be much in the way of new development of affordable homes beyond that already expected in the regional planning guidance." The government's draft guidance for the South-east, announced 18 months ago, proposed 43,000 homes for the region. This was later revised to 39,000. That target would constitute a "significant" boost to housing, but Stokoe is not convinced the Housing Corporation will be given enough cash to achieve it.
The allocation of the spending review money will determine its success. Schemes to help essential staff in the health, police and emergency service sectors buy their first home are laudable, but there is a downside. Helping key workers find affordable homes only assists one section of the community. South East Regional Assembly planning director Mike Gwilliam says: "We're not sure that the starter homes initiative is the best way to spend the money. The best way would be to fund accommodation which can then be provided on an enduring basis that can be maintained.
"We would prefer the Housing Corporation to provide more dwellings that just help people into the property market." The assembly has asked housing minister Lord Rooker to reconsider the initiative.
But politics means that key workers are likely to get a pretty big share of the funding. Getting nurses and teachers onto the housing ladder is a big vote-winner, and the results can be seen a lot more quickly than the benefits brought by other types of new housing.
Will developers play ball?
Developers are already complaining about the affordable housing demands placed on them. Mike Hayes, junior vice president of the Royal Town Planning Institute, says: "Developers are only going to build affordable housing if the government pays them to do so. If they have to do that, they might as well pay housing associations to do the job."
Also, staff shortages may spoil the party, he says: "Why are developers building so few houses at the moment? The answer is the severe skills shortage that exists. The comprehensive spending review won't do much to change that."
Who will manage the homes?
With the main target areas for growth already identified, it is expected that new housing will be divided between local, well-established associations. Amicus Housing Group, Moat Housing, London & Quadrant and Midsummer Housing Association are expected to be big players.
Amicus chief executive Steve Howlett says: "It's vital that we get the investment in key areas, such as Thames Gateway, and then have the opportunity to use it quickly and sensibly through changes in planning."
A spokesperson for London & Quadrant says it expects to build at least a thousand houses each year from now on and adds: "We will certainly be looking to participate in spending some of the money that becomes available in our area."
But many housing associations in the area are sceptical about just how much money they will get. "Once the cake is sliced between different parts of the country and between different types of investment I have my doubts whether it is going to be enough to make a major difference here, particularly when rapid increases in land and construction cost are taken into account," says Tim Arthur, of Nucleus Housing Group.
Which agency will be in charge?
In London, the responsibility for overseeing the housing programme is expected to be split between the Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency.
As for the rest of the region, housing sector agencies are starting to jockey for position on the issue of who will lead on delivering the extra housing. Prescott has said that now he has the details of his department's budgets for the next three years, he will meet with key stakeholders to ensure he gets the balance right.
The creation of a single housing inspector will fuel the fight for funding. Ministers deny any turf war between the Housing Corporation and Audit Commission, but each organisation's interests are clear. Add English Partnerships, regional assemblies and regional development agencies into the mix and it begins to look like the sector is facing an autumn gold rush.
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