ABC of housing growth and infrastructure

This project has been led by senior practitioners from the housing field who have over the past decade or more been concerned at the UK’s poor performance in providing sufficient homes for a growing population and the low quality of much of what is built.

Whilst much of the focus by Government and pressure groups has been on issues of quality there have been few serious debates about a step change in increasing supply.

A number of Housing Forum reports have highlighted that there are significant process issues that need to be addressed if we are to make inroads into our housing crisis. The report builds on past research and on a series of Housing Forum workshops held over the past year with key organisations.

It highlights that although there have been significant improvements in design and quality we still face enormous problems in building on the scale required, and creating homes within the reach of all.

We are still several decades behind what other Northern European countries have achieved. The biggest challenge of all is to address the issue of land supply and its cost. At present we rely on ever increasing land prices to fund infrastructure and affordable housing.

There are other options which the report highlights including the German policy for mobilising unused land and the capacity to freeze the prices in specified development zones.

Though much of our inspiration comes from new housing in European cities, there are also some excellent examples in British towns and cities that are showing the way forward.

We have therefore written up a selection of case studies aim to show how individuals and organisations in the UK are finding ways of responding to the challenge of doing things better.

The projects demonstrate how to overcome barriers through innovation and new approaches to funding, collaboration and design. The conclusions bring out the changes that need to happen to make similar developments happen faster and more frequently.

We hope this report will raise a public debate and influence politicians to re-think the way we develop and build more homes for the future.

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