Top tips for Council new build: Hackney Council's Chartered Institute of Housing 2014 conference presentation

Top tips for Council new buildThe Hackney experience of building 220 homes – with more to come

Charlotte Graves, CIHCM, Corporate Director of Housing, Hackney Council / Chief Executive, Hackney Homes

John Lumley, BA (Hons), CIHCM, Assistant Director Housing & Regeneration, Hackney Council

Councillor Phillip Glanville, Cabinet Member for Housing, Hackney Council

Introductions

Charlotte Graves Corporate Director of Housing, Hackney Council, 2011 - currentChief Executive, Hackney Homes, 2008 - currentChief Executive, Newham Homes, 2006 - 2008Managing Director, Catalyst Communities Housing Association, 2002 - 2006Director of Housing, Ealing Family Housing Association, 1998 - 2002 CIH Council, 2006 - 2012

John Lumley Assistant Director of Housing & Regeneration, Hackney Council 2013 – currentHead of Estate Regeneration, Hackney Council 2012 - 2013Development Manager, London & Quadrant Housing Trust, 2008 – 2012Regeneration Manager, London & Quadrant Housing Trust, 2006 - 2008

Cllr Phillip Glanville Cabinet Member for Housing, Hackney Council, May 2014 - currentLabour Councillor for Hoxton West (previously Hoxton) Ward, Hackney Council, May 2006 - currentMember of the National Executive, Labour Housing Group, March 2012 - currentPolicy and Parliamentary Officer, National AIDS Trust, September 2012 - June 2014Cabinet Member for Hackney Homes and Regeneration Estates, Hackney Council, May 2013 - May 2014Cabinet Adviser for Hackney Homes, Hackney Council, February 2012 - May 2013Cabinet Member for Housing Hackney Council, May 2011 - February 2012Chair of Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission, Hackney Council, May 2010 - May 2011Head of Office for Rushanara Ali MP (and Shadow Minister for International Development), Parliament, May 2010 - August 2011

• The background to Hackney’s Housing Regeneration projects

• What we’ve learnt so far

• The wider strategic and political issues

Our presentation will cover

• You’re a local authority or ALMO thinking about new build• You’re doing some new build and want to compare• You’re an RP who would like to know what local

authorities are doing and how that is complimentary to RP activity

• You’re a developer or builder• You just want to know how we can all work to provide

new homes

You’ll be interested if

• Approximately 32,000 Council homes

• Approximately 8,800 leaseholders/freeholders

• Decent Homes comes to an end this year

• Regeneration schemes not in Decent Homes programme

Hackney

• Do you know what’s in Decent Homes?

• Do you know how anything that’s not or hasn’t been in a Decent Homes programme is being dealt with?

• HRA Business Plan?

• How many leaseholders have you got and where are they?

Do you know your stock?

• Who are they?

• What is or was the logic of what’s in your Decent Homes programme?

• What’s in your regeneration programme?

• A future investment programme?

• Who do you need homes for?

Do you know your stock? (continued)

• Historically, individual site-specific solutions: joint venture or land disposal

• Many schemes, taken alone, proved financially unviable due to upfront ex-RTB re-purchase costs

• Schemes progressed with a new portfolio approach – coherent approach to funding and planning

• Strong political leadership

Background

•An injection of expertise from consultants

•Senior management input

Where’s your team? Who’s doing what?

• Permanent staff• Who’s your senior permanent person who knows what

they’re doing?• Who’s the next person after that?• Project managers need the right combination of technical

skill and interpersonal skill – working with residents• Need to be able to deal with complex and legal issues• High level report writing skills• Attendance at evening meetings, events etc• Stability – succession planning

Building a team

Housing Regeneration

• Legal • Procurement • Finance • Communications• Planning • HR• Who are the senior people in those teams who are

brought in to deliver new build?

Other key teams:

• Overall strategy and policy defined in cabinet report and housing strategy

• Worked up deals for leaseholders

• Lettings policies

• Communications strategy and channels

• Vacant possession - CPO

Strategy, policy, process

On each scheme you need to know

• Background • Summary• Tenure mix• Money • Allocations/lettings• Communications• Consultations• Other buildings on site• Cleaning

• Grounds maintenance• ITLA• Legal issues• Lighting• Local issues• Naming strategy• Parking• Parks• Play areas

On each scheme you need to know

• Recycling• Refuse • Retail/shop keepers• Roads and pavements• Security• Trees • Voids• Construction issues• Construction dela• Pollution/contamination

• Heating• Project plan• Drawings• Service charges – now

and future• Garages • Communal gardens• Community halls• Leaseholders • Environmental issues

• Keeping all services as good as possible

• Sensible decisions about major works including leaseholder issues

• Constant reminders to staff about keeping up services

• Use of some empty properties for temporary accommodation pending demolition

Management issues on regeneration estates

• Learning how to use new technology – residents and staff

• Snagging and defects• Design issues• Handbooks• Tenancy agreements• Managing shared ownership

Management issues on new build

• Council homes at Council rents

• Shared ownership

• Outright sale

Our new homes

John Lumley Assistant Director, Housing and Regeneration

Alexandra National House

Colville Phase 1

Colville Phase 2

Colville Phase 2

Colville Phase 3

Kings Crescent

Kings Crescent

Kings Crescent

St Leonards

Cllr Phillip Glanville

• Improving housing affordability

• Increasing housing supply of all tenures

• Improving access to owner occupation

• Having a unified, more modern private sector offer

Housing challenges currently facing Hackney

• 60% of newly-forming households would not be able to afford market rates without some kind of help

• Housing affordability a top three housing issue for residents in Hackney both in our residents’ surveys, but also on the doorstep in recent elections

The housing affordability challenge

• Hackney has 1,700 households currently in temporary accommodation

• Hackney’s population grew by 20% between 2001 and 2011

• Hackney's population will grow by a further 70,000 people over the next 25 years

The housing supply challenge

• Levels of owner occupation have fallen from 32% to 26% - one of the lowest in the country

• House prices in Hackney are amongst the highest in London (10th most expensive borough for average house prices), while the average incomes of residents are relatively low (27th borough for median incomes)

The home ownership challenge

• The private rented sector has doubled over the last 10 years from 16% to 29% of all homes in Hackney - more people rent than own their home

• The needs of people living in the PRS has changed and the Council offer needs to change too, to meet the needs of private renters

The private rented sector challenge

• Last year nearly 1,000 new homes were delivered in Hackney, just under half of which for social renting or shared ownership

• In the last three years we have built ourselves 201 new Council social rent homes and 20 share ownership and shared equity homes, which we are marketing to local people

• We have made a commitment to build a further 3,000 homes by 2018, one of the highest in London - this is a real delivery figure!

• We have bid for additional HRA borrowing headroom and this could unlock a further 400 new homes

What are we doing in Hackney?

• We are working closely with developers such as Berkeley Homes on developing 5,500 new properties, at Woodberry Down

• We are actively exploring what steps can be taken to improve the private rented sector in the borough including a social lettings agency and potentially a licensing scheme

• We are exploratory in our approach to small sites working and bespoke solutions, working with providers such as Pocket Homes for example

• We need real localism in terms of investment, planning, rents and regulation

What are we doing in Hackney? (cont)

•The HRA borrowing cap should be removed; let local councils such as Hackney get on and build new homes

•We need a renewed commitment to social rented homes, backed with Government investment

•Increase the scope for shared ownership to help more people at least partially own their own homes - this is an important part of the Hackney housing offer

•Stop land speculation by introducing a transparent land registry to reveal the land agents, developers and hedge funds that were driving up expectations on land price by taking options on land liable for development

The bigger picture - what should be done

We need to stabilise rent increases in the private sector by introducing longer tenancies with inflation linked rent rises

In Hackney the new Affordable Rent model isn't sustainable given high market rents, so we must either break that link or dampen rents

Action needs to be taken to stop cursory evictions as a way of increasing rents

Estate agents should no longer be able to charge a letting fee for renting out properties in addition to requiring a deposit and the first month's rent upfront

The bigger picture - what should be done

@hackneycouncil

www.hackney.gov.uk/regeneration

And finally…