AMT Public

At the local level it is local authorities who have the key role of facilitating the delivery of affordable housing.  Their role is to deliver the right amount of affordable housing, in the right place within the provisions of government policy guidance at the national and regional level.  Nationally there is a push towards housing being at the heart of the ‘new place shaping agenda’ and encourages local authorities to take full and proper account of housing as part of the strategic vision for the area.

Which tier of local government?

Local councils are run by democratically-elected councillors. They are responsible for making decisions on behalf of the local community about local services, such as affordable housing.

In most of the country there are two tiers of local government, county councils and district councils. County Councils have responsibility for services such as education, waste management and strategic planning.  District or Borough authorities are responsible for services such as housing and local planning.  In some areas local authorities have merged creating a unitary authority.  In England there are 27 two-tier counties and 55 unitary authorities.  Larger towns and cities have just one council providing all the functions of the two. Collectively these authorities are known as the ‘principal authorities’.

In addition, except in larger town and cities, there are parish or town councils. These are also elected and can undertake a number of local activities such as parks and public clocks.  They have a consultative role in planning.

Local authorities’ strategic role in the new ‘place shaping agenda’

As part of their strategic  leadership and place shaping activities, local authorities are expected to address the housing needs of all residents across all housing tenures, through strategic housing activity known as the ‘strategic housing role’.  Through their strategic housing role and by aligning housing plans with the Local Development Framework, local authorities can bring considerable influence to bear on the delivery of affordable housing in their area.

‘Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities 2008’ reaffirms that housing is at the heart of place shaping and encourages local authorities to take full and proper account of housing as part of the strategic vision for the area.

The guidance requires local authorities with their sub-regional partners to prepare housing strategies which are expected to form part of the Sustainable Community Strategies.  Local authorities can choose to prepare individual housing strategies however, the emphasis is on cross-boundary and sub-regional working between local authorities, registered social landlords and Homes and Communities Agency, in considering how to address the needs of all local people across all tenures.

Housing strategies are expected to reflect the wider vision of the local authority.  They are expected to be well evidenced and clear, confirming how they will deliver the targets set in the Local Area Agreements and Local Development Framework.

They will identify key issues within your area and set out how the local authority will work to meet the targets to tackle these issues that formed their Local Area Agreements:

• Shortage of Affordable Housing
• Shortage of market housing
• Balancing housing markets
• Creating Decent Homes and Environments
• Housing the homeless
• Regeneration
• Homes with support or additional facilities
• Support continued economic growth and regeneration

To access the Housing Strategies prepared by your local authority, try your local authority website.  Direct Gov enables you to search by postcode the Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords in your area

For a practical guide on how local authorities make the case for affordable housing try the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) good practice paper produced for Communities and Local Government ‘New Housing Provision and the Strategic Housing Role’ October 2008.

Research required inform the evidence base in Housing Strategies

Strategic Housing Market Assessments

In preparation of their evidence base local authorities are required to have in place Strategic Housing Market Assessments (SHMAs). The preparation of an SHMA is a shared process between local authorities’ strategic housing and planning functions, and a wider stakeholder group (RSLs and the HCA). The SHMA provides essential evidence, which underpins housing proposals in both the Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework and the Sustainable Community Strategy.

One of the major changes introduced by the SHMA guidance is that local authorities need to take into account actual housing market areas rather than limiting the assessments to the administrative boundaries of the local authority. It encourages cross-boundary and sub-regional working which also reflects the ‘single conversation’ business approach the HCA have adopted in allocating resources for affordable housing.

They are encouraged to work with neighbouring local authorities, in similar housing market areas or where there are shared Local Area Agreements or Multiple Area Agreements. This is not always easy and straight forward, as often housing market areas and LA boundaries do not overlap.

The SHMA guidance also underlines the importance of understanding the housing market as a whole, and how current market trends are likely to affect future housing requirements. This needs to involve a wide range of partners across the private, social and public sectors, which will help to achieve this cross-sectoral understanding.  Specifically for rural areas the guidance advises that it is important to distinguish between urban and rural, and that care should be taken to use data appropriate to rural areas with the inclusion of specific questions to explore the nature of the housing market in rural areas.

Evidence collected by SHMAs includes:

• estimates of current dwellings in terms of size, type, condition and tenure
• analysis of past and current housing market trends, including balance between supply and demand in different housing sectors and price/affordability. Description of key drivers underpinning the housing market
• estimate of total future number of households, broken down by age and type where possible
• estimate of current number of households in housing need
• estimate of future households that will require affordable housing
• estimate of future households requiring market housing
• estimate of the size / nature of affordable housing required
• estimate of household groups who have particular housing requirements e.g. families, older people, key workers, black and minority ethnic groups.

Balanced housing markets

Local authorities are expected to create balanced housing markets in their areas, but there is no single definition for a balanced market.  It is easier to consider what outcomes a balanced housing market can achieve and these will vary across local authorities, depending on the local housing need and strategic priorities.  They could include:

• Providing housing to support the overall aims or vision of the Sustainable Community Strategy (Chapter 3), for example to support economic growth and neighbourhood regeneration.
• Balancing supply and demand of housing stock,
• Identifying low demand housing market areas and trying to balance new build and improvement of existing housing stock within these areas
• Providing stock of both market and affordable housing to address people housing aspirations and housing need,
• Assisting all sections of communities, across urban and rural areas, to have access to good quality accommodation, including key worker living in areas of chronic housing shortage
• Providing housing stock for specific groups (e.g. people with learning difficulties and vulnerable adults)
• Providing sites for households with cultural requirements (e.g. Gypsy and Travellers)

Communicating the vision

The strategic housing role should ensure that the local authority’s vision for the area is communicated effectively. This vision should be clearly reflected in the Sustainable Community Strategy and where applicable other related strategies or delivery documents.  These should be developed with a wider strategic housing partnership and be readily accessible to the partnership and the wider community. The statutory guidance, ‘Creating Strong, Safe, and Prosperous Communities’24 published by Government in July 2008, reaffirms that, where possible, housing strategies and homelessness strategies, should be incorporated within Sustainable Community Strategies, whilst allowing local authorities discretion about how this should be achieved

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA)

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments are a key component of the evidence based approach to supporting the delivery of sufficient land for housing to meet the community’s need for more homes. These assessments are required by national planning policy, set out in Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) the purpose to ensure that land availability is not a constraint on the delivery of more homes.

The primary roles of the Strategic Housing Land Availability are to identify sites with potential for housing, assess their housing potential and assess when they are likely to be developed.

The SHLAA aim is to identify as many sites with housing potential in and around as many settlements as possible, within a defined geographical area.  This area should be a sub-regional housing market area, but may be a local planning authority area.   As a minimum, it should aim to identify sufficient specific sites for at least the first 10 years of a plan, from the anticipated date of its adoption, and ideally for longer than the whole 15 year plan period. The SHLAA is an important evidence source to inform plan-making, but does not in itself determine whether a site should be allocated for housing development.

Go to Part VI:  Challenges to developing affordable housing in market towns