Developers need a better understanding of who uses affordable housing if they want to gain the trust of local communities, according to a panel at the London Residential Summit today.
Responding to a question about whether developers are doing enough to sell the benefits of development to local populations, Mel Barrett, chief executive of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said: “Quite often developers will seek to get that golden ticket with the planning permission. The affordable housing will be dealt with through a third party.
“Developers need to get closer to understanding who those affordable homes are going to, to see the whole thing through – not just getting the ticket.”
Anita Rivera, partner at Mishcon de Reya, added that despite the growing interest in affordable housing, there is little collaborative discussion.
She said: “We speak about the social housing green paper – we’re waiting for the Conservative Party’s green paper and we’ve seen the Labour party’s green paper – but wouldn’t it be great for there to be a collaboration on that paper rather than it being party political?
“I don’t think there’s a lot of dialogue going on. It’s a lot about politics at the moment – being seen to be doing something rather than doing what government should do, which is provide decent affordable homes for everyone.”
While Janice Morphet, visiting professor at UCL Bartlett School of Planning, said we need to accept that affordable housing is a state activity and part of what the state does, Barrett went on to explain the value of public-private partnerships.
“There’s a real challenge in delivering scale. One of my preferences is joint ventures, in terms of getting scale delivered,” he said.
In Oxford, where Barrett was previously executive director in the council, the council had entered into a jv partnership with Grosvenor.
The company ended up delivering 300 homes for the council “much quicker” than the council would have been able to on its own.
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