Visionary Leadership in Housing

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Visionary Leadership in Housing

• DASH conference June 2007
• Sarah Davis
• Senior Policy Officer

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National Policy Context

• Housing high on governments agenda and rising
• Home ownership a major focus with stress on
  affordability
• First time buyers/ buy to lets
• Renewed focus on local governments role

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• I want to see local authorities taking an
  increasingly powerful strategic role on housing
  across all tenures, putting housing at the heart
  of economic, social and environmental objectives
• Ruth Kelly, Minister for Communities and Local
  Government

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Place shaping

• Lyons Inquiry LAs as place shapers
• using powers and influence creatively to
  promotethe well-being of a community and its
  citizens
• Leadership
• Long term planning
• Convening role

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Strong and prosperous communities

• More power to LAs to pass on to residents
• Communities to have more say in vision for and
  services delivered to local areas
• Local Strategic Partnerships
• Doers not just talkers
• Engaging stakeholders from all sectors
• Sustainable Community Strategy

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Strong and prosperous communities (2)

• Local Area Agreements
• Required in all county and unitaries
• Action plan for delivery of Sustainable Community
  strategy
• What isnt going to be dealt with through LAAs?
• How are private landlords linked in?

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Transformational change

• Housing not just social housing but across
  tenures and markets
• Communities and places
• Serving people

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Much more complex world

• Sustainable communities
• How does housing support other agendas?
• Homeownership and affordability
• Social mobility
• Positive planning
• Meeting requirements/mixed and sustainable
  communities
• John Hills report/Caves Review

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Strategic housing function

• Maximising the contribution of housing to the
  sustainable communities agenda
• Development and delivery of social, economic and
  environmental well being
• Influence and powers to achieve balanced housing
  markets affordable / choice

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Making connections

• Coordinating different activities to achieve
  something bigger for an area
• Achieving objectives identified outside the
  housing strategy
• Link to big structural picture
• HMAs, Sub-/city/regional
• Connecting locally neighbourhoods
• PRS part of this picture

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PRS as a priority

• Integral part of housing market
• Changes have important impacts on housing
  strategy and other agendas
• Economic mobility
• Migrant workers
• Vulnerable households

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Priorities for PRS

• Incorporate into strategic role and contribute to
  place shaping
• Meeting local housing need
• Affordable housing
• Homeless households
• Community empowerment
• Decent Homes target 2010
• Tackling anti-social behaviour

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A strategy or strategic thinking?
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Skills required

• Visioning
• Leadership
• Engaging
• Communicating
• Research
• Influencing
• Negotiating
• Commissioning
• Planning
• Evaluation and monitoring

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CIH/Ipsos Mori skills and capacity

• overall aims to identify
• current skills/knowledge gap in SHR
• changing skills/capacity of LAs to deliver
• Agreed key ingredients but some surprises
• Affordable housing/ vulnerable groups/
  aspriations and needs
• 17 balanced housing markets
• 9 sustainable / mixed communities
• 90 performing better than other LAs!

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Strategic use of tools in PRS

• How LAs work with PRS
• Strengths, weaknesses, successes and problems
• Factors affecting work
• Guidance on best use of tools

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Statutory tools

• HMO mandatory licensing
• HMO additional licensing
• Selective licensing
• Management orders
• Grants and loans

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Voluntary tools

• Accreditation
• Landlord forums
• Training and events
• Newsletters
• Private sector leasing
• ASB services
• Tenancy deposits and bonds
• Tenancy support

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Factors influencing strategic approach

• Departmental structures
• Resources financial and staff
• Ability/ capacity to operate IMOs/FMOs
• Support corporate and elected members
• Performance monitoring

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Partnerships

• Councils and landlords
• Tensions, trust, Working Together
• Neighbouring authorities
• PRS tenants

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Housing market factors

• Knowledge of markets
• Location of landlords
• Type of investor
• Levels of demand for PRS
• Concentration of migrant workers

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Research conclusions

• Additional tools not required
• Suitable for most circumstances
• Adapt to recent reforms
• Use to maximum effect
• More best practice dissemination
• Overcoming barriers
• Strategic approach essential
• Important part of strategic housing function

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www.cih.org / sarah.davis_at_cih.org