Supported by Homes for the North and placemakers Muse, the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has launched renew, an inquiry exploring the potential of housing led-regeneration across the North of England. The report was informed by submissions from a range of major stakeholders throughout the North, compiling feedback from local authorities, associations and developers responsible for roughly 1 million out of the North’s 1.4 million social homes.
The report draws on this evidence to provide policy recommendations that work towards the goal of providing 500,000 affordable, high quality homes for the North. Housing-led regeneration, as it is defined in the opening of the report is “the physical renewal of homes and the public realm — whether through demolition and replacement, refurbishment, or remodelling — as a catalyst for the wider social and economic renewal of an area.” The report reiterates that housing-led regeneration as an umbrella term refers not just to the building of homes, but encompasses a range of activities that seeks to further solidify the North’s access to stable, affordable homes as means to fuel economic and social prosperity in the region.
The report highlights the three key areas outlined for renewal, each with separate challenges and opportunities within the wider mission of regeneration:
- Urban centre regeneration- The large scale transformation of city and town-centre areas, combining new homes, commercial space, public realm and infrastructure.
- Brownfield regeneration- Regeneration focused on the remediation and redevelopment of former industrial or commercial land for residential and mixed use.
- Estate regeneration and neighbourhood renewal- The physical regeneration of existing communities where homes and the wider built environment are no longer fit for purpose and require significant intervention.
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The report lays out the scale of not just the opportunity for regeneration, but the urgent need for it. Across the north, hundreds of thousands of homes are coming to the end of their viable lifespans, with spend on repairs and maintenance for northern housing providers increasing by 97% between 2019 and 2025, from £1.25bn to £2.46bn. The report refers to this phenomenon as a structural drag, with the increasing cost of maintenance and repair handicapping providers abilities to provide the necessary homes to offset rising levels of homelessness and housing instability. The report estimates that 25,500 social homes could potentially become non-compliant with regulatory requirements between now and 2030, while between 84,000 and 112,000 will require regeneration within ten years, outlining the key role of housing in preserving the prosperity of the region.
The report outlines a number of policy recommendations to further the agenda of housing-led regeneration in the north, centered on six key pillars: funding and finance, leadership and oversight, planning, land and site assembly, capacity and knowledge, engagement and accountability and delivering for the private rented sector. At its core, all of these recommendations push for a fundamental shift in how the government approaches regeneration, suggesting a policy framework that acknowledges the urgency and pivotal nature of the Norths opportunities.
Amongst these measures is the establishment of Long-term, flexible regeneration funding capable of bridging viability gaps rather than relying solely on unit-cost-based housing programmes, the appointment of a dedicated minister for regeneration, a comprehensive assessment of end-of-life social housing stock across the North. The policy recommendations set out by the report call for a larger allocation of funds, resources and planning to the Norths regeneration, advocating for a strategic, streamlined approach. The full report and its recommendations can be found here.
