The northern way steering group’s draft report on sustainable communities in the north of England includes a number of controversial conclusions. Chief among these, as we report on page 7, is the expectation that the decent homes standard should be achieved, in some cases, by clearance rather than repair.

Indeed, the report calls for the introduction of financial incentives to bring this about.

These “changes to funding arrangements”, it is proposed, would apply equally to arm’s-length management organisations and registered social landlords. But the potential impact is greater on the former, whose income is derived locally and is based on the number of properties the organisation manages for the local authority.

On the surface, knocking down homes would appear to lead only to a reduction in the income they bring. After all, even in low-demand areas, not all are empty. But in some cases clearance will be seen as a positive step, removing the cost of maintaining hard-to-let properties.

Nonetheless, plans to increase demolition must not lose sight of the improvements already made in many areas – and the improvements that are not yet there, but well on the way.

Any financial incentives need to provide a balance that ensures genuinely unwanted properties are allowed to disappear while encouraging the preservation of the many homes that have a realistic chance of increasing in desirability. There are many factors that could render an individual property a “write-off”, but in some cases good homes become low-demand homes solely because of their location.

In some cases good homes become low-demand homes solely because of their location

As a result of broader improvements in education, transport and leisure activities, these properties can regain their sought-after status.

It would be a tragedy if these were to be pulled down in the rush to meet a desire to accelerate the rate of stock clearance – if the momentum of clearance and the desire to meet the 2010 decent homes deadline were allowed to prevail over other, more long-term, methods of market renewal.

The report also calls for the establishment of property investment trusts across the region.

This type of private sector investment may be contrary to the beliefs of many. But it could be the only option to prevent what the report describes as “postcode discrimination” – whereby workless neighbourhoods, inhabited only by those who cannot afford to move elsewhere, become stigmatised or totally abandoned.

Source

Housing Today