Enabling Diversity in Housing Supply Jeff Endean, Housing Strategy and Partnerships Manager, LB Lewisham

Housing supply in Lewisham Lewisham’s current overall housing target: 1,105 homes per year In the past decade Lewisham has exceeded the target by a total of 2,765 homes Between 2014 and ,100 homes will be built of all tenures and from all sources, of which 2,000 will be affordable The vast majority of new homes will come forward on private sites and be developed by private developers or housing associations Of these 2,000 affordable homes, 500 will be delivered though the council’s own Council Homes programme, and 1,700 will be enabled in various ways by the Council

Impacts of supply shortage in Lewisham The number of homeless households in temporary accommodation is up by 89% since 2010 The supply of new affordable rented homes is down by 41% since 2010 Today there are over 1,700 homeless Lewisham families who are currently in temporary accommodation

Tenures and affordability TenureWeekly Cost Annual Net Income required Estimated gross income required Social rent£86£12,777£15,077 Median salary in Lewisham£31,512 Affordable rent (65% of market) £195£28,971£34,186 Intermediate rent£240£35,657£43,858 Shared ownership (25%)£243£36,103£44,608 Shared ownership (50%)£299£44,423£56,861 Median market rent£300£44,572£57,052 Outright ownership (Resale)£379£56,309£73,765 Starter Homes£384+£57,000+£75,000+ Outright ownership (New Build) £437£64,926£86,352 Affordability for 2 Bedroom Properties in Lewisham

Strategy A Housing Strategy for “We want to support our families and citizens as they seek to secure a suitable home that is affordable and sustainable across all tenures… the Council itself will explore innovative ways of building new homes and searching out new routes to finance more affordable social housing.” In practice…we are diversifying housing supply by looking at: Working with a wide range of partners, not just doing this ourselves Community-led housing development and CLTs Introducing off-site manufacture for temporary accommodation Creating a new housing development investment partnership to build PRS homes on public land

Plurality of suppliers (Pocket) Marischal Road 26 affordable homes for sale to Lewisham residents/workers Prices capped, income levels capped, 100% ownership Huge demand Takes 26 households out of PRS Challenges: Disposal Planning Why this not rent?

Plurality of suppliers (Extra Care)

Custom Build and CLT Strategy Well-backed and well-run community groups and land trusts could, in principle: Be better placed to develop smaller trickier sites Utilise people’s drive and energy for a good cause Help manage local concerns Develop homes that people want to live in Share communal space and therefore develop more densely Be the only way to guarantee that homes are affordable in perpetuity

Custom Build and CLT Church Grove CLT with RUSS 33 self build homes on public land, 100% affordable, 5 social rent RUSS: development partner and funder OJEU disposal with development agreement Lewisham Citizens/East London CLT c 15 affordable home ownership homes Sales prices pegged to local incomes EL CLT: preferred partners, no OJEU

Build to Rent Investment Partnership Strategies Housing development Develop new homes at scale Develop without subsidy Housing strategy Intervene in the PRS Drive up standards Improve terms and conditions Create transparency on fees and rent increases Create a new form of affordable housing Planning and place Engage institutional funding Utilise public sector land Retain a stake and drive up quality of place making

Build to Rent Investment Partnership 230 homes 65% market rent and 35% “Living Rent” No differentiation of tenure, same manager, same product, same block GP surgery, offices and commercial 50:50 JV: Council land & investment, private sector investment Partner leads construction & management, council leads engagement and brings land

PLACE / Ladywell “Re-useable” housing development 24 x 2-bed affordable homes 800sqm of civic and commercial space On site for maximum of four years Move and repeat (or make permanent)

Why off-site manufacture? Reduce cost of nightly paid accommodation (£3m last year) by deploying new homes rapidly Utilise vacant sites while longer term plans are being developed/infrastructure is delivered Create flexible structures for a range of future uses Enable on-site decant on regeneration schemes so no one has to leave their neighbourhood Mainstream new approaches to construction as the public sector returns to house building

PLACE / Ladywell - Lessons Learnt Issues with infrastructure – Issues with UKPN and the Gas Board have caused delays to the project. Speedier construction methods need to take account of slow moving infrastructure providers. Mixing on and off-site construction – The ground floor modules, balconies and external walkways between the flats were fitted out on-site, this added time and complexity to the project. Good comms strategy – Investment in a good communications strategy, including an engaging consultation, from the beginning of the project had meant that is has been almost universally positively received, despite fears. Commercial units are difficult – Finding a balance of commercial uses was challenging and led to delays in the design of the ground floor which had an impact on the overall programme. An all residential development would have been completed much faster.

New London Awards 2016/2017 PLACE/Ladywell recently won two prizes at the New London Architecture Awards. PLACE/Ladywell was awarded the prize for the best in The Temporary category; developments that embrace the city as a work in progress, delivering acceptable environments whilst areas undergo change: meanwhile uses, installations, and community-driven projects aimed at enlivening places over a short-term period. The development was also awarded the Mayor’s Prize which was selected by newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan who praised the scheme as ‘inspirational’, with ‘an imaginative borough using innovative design to build affordable homes for Londoners that really need them’.

Challenges

These examples are exemplars/prototypes. How do we use the concepts to deliver at scale? How do we introduce efficiencies/diversify the supply chain? Speeding up schemes on site/unlocking stalled schemes Delivering homes that are affordable across the piece – rented and ownership Tackling homelessness and providing new sources of quality temporary accommodation) Ensuring a supply of land – including large scale/town centre regeneration and estate regeneration (using pop-up housing to accelerate?)