A lack of new and well-designed family homes for sale could undermine Government plans to revitalise Britain's inner cities, according to research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Unless developers build more homes suitable for growing families in the new mixed income housing developments, then hopes to improve schools and services for families already living in inner city neighbourhoods may not be realised.
Mixed income new communities (MINCs) comprise homes for rent, part-ownership, and outright sale. The report argues that for these communities to achieve their neighbourhood renewal goals and be sustainable in the longer term, they need to attract better-off families, not just childless households, and to give childless couples the opportunity to remain when they have their own families.
The research, from the Institute of Education and the London School of Economics, found that safe, clean, and friendly neighbourhoods with open spaces for children to play were factors that attracted better-off families to living in MINCs. The families preferred developments where social and market-rate housing were integrated and had the same standards of design. Good management and community development were also critical to success.
However, from focusing on four contrasting inner-city MINCs, the study found a problem with the supply and cost of family homes. Building family homes for sale had been an important element in the master plans, but:
The result was that in all four areas studied the proportion of families with children in private sector homes was considerably lower than in the population at large.
The researchers found a number of constraints on the supply of family accommodation:
The report recommends that the Government could invest in some demonstration projects, working with developers and local authorities, to highlight how family accommodation might be successfully provided in inner cities. It suggests that local authorities and regeneration partnerships should raise the issue of building family homes for sale as an explicit social goal, as they enter into partnerships with house builders.
The four mixed income new communities examined in the study were at:
Much of the good practice identified in the study was at Greenwich Millennium Village, the success of which underlines the value of getting mixed neighbourhoods right.
A Good Place for Children? Attracting and Retaining Families in Inner Urban Mixed Income Communities, by Emily Silverman, Ruth Lupton and Alex Fenton, was published for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation by the Chartered Institute of Housing. Tel.: 024 7685 1752; price: £16.95 plus £2.75 p&p.
A summary of the report can be found in the JRF's Findings series No. 26: Attracting and Retaining Families in New Urban Mixed Income Communities. Findings and other reports from the Foundation can be read on their website at www.jrf.org.uk.
