Posted 23.07.20
Hackney Council: Further reading
Local households will be able to bid to build their own home on a small parcel of Council land in an innovative challenge, a first for Hackney Council.
The Self-Build Challenge will give individuals and families in Hackney the chance to submit an application, proposing an innovative and environmentally-friendly home design on a pre-designated site.
This makes use of plots of land too small for Council-led schemes, while ensuring these sites still contribute to tackling the housing shortage in the borough.
More than 250 people have already signed up to the Council's Self-Build Register. To be eligible, bidders must:
This pilot is structured to help the successful applicants secure external finance for their build. It also ensures that when they move on, the property remains affordable - with the Council retaining an equity stake.
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Posted 22.07.20
Social Market Foundation: Further reading
High street shopping units left empty by the collapse of retail businesses should be converted into hundreds of thousands of new homes built by the public sector, a think-tank report says today.
A paper from Social Market Foundation argues that the decline of traditional high street shopping is inevitable, meaning ministers should focus less on slowing that decline than on supporting new and more beneficial uses for town-centre sites.
A major programme of converting retail units for residential use could allow the creation of 800,000 new homes, the SMF report calculates.
Many of those homes should be built by local councils and other public bodies in a major expansion of social housing, the paper says.
It also suggests that central government should write off tens of billions of pounds of local councils' debt to support that programme.
The SMF report, entitled 'A New Life for the High Street', argues that the coronavirus crisis will accelerate pre-existing trends, including a shift away from shopping in urban centres.
The above link provides access to the full report.
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Posted 01.07.20
GOV.UK: Further reading
The government has announced a package of measures to support home building across England, including:
The government also announced that it will launch a planning Policy Paper in July, setting out its plan for comprehensive reform of England's seven-decade old planning system, to introduce a new approach that works better for our modern economy and society.
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Updated 16.07.20
Affordable Housing Commission: 12 point plan puts social and affordable housing at the heart of the recovery
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