industry news 17 Comment Comments from leading experts from across the sector. The industry advocate
Brian Berry looks at the recent history of Theresa May’s inherited policy to build 200,000 Starter Homes, and wonders what has become of this important initiative.
time buyers. This would have constituted an important moment in the previous Prime Minis- ter’s housing vision as Starter Homes were an essential part of David Cameron’s housing strat- egy to boost owner occupation. Yet, events have conspired to leave Theresa
T
May’s Government to be the one to implement the former flagship policy. Housing has become no less of a priority for this new administration, but it’s a sign of how much the debate has moved on that the announcement that 30 local author- ity areas in England had been selected to deliver these homes didn’t receive all that much atten- tion in the press. As many readers will be aware, the Starter
Homes policy was introduced by the Coalition Government as a way of boosting home owner- ship among younger people. Starter Homes were to be made available at 80 per cent or less of mar- ket price to first time buyers under the age of 40, up to a price cap of £250,000 outside of London, or £450,000 in the capital. This basic idea remains unchanged. Starter Homes were origi- nally conceived as an exception site policy, under which these properties would be delivered on previously commercial or industrial brownfield
Tarasafe ULTRA H2 PERFECT FOR
SOCIAL HOUSING WET AREAS
Contact us now.
www.gerfl
or.co.uk contractuk@gerfl
or.com 01926 622600
Enq. 108 respond online at
www.hbdonline.co.uk
he beginning of this year saw the green light being given for the construction of thousands of Starter Homes for first
sites which would not otherwise be allocated for housing. With the low land values on these types of sites, in addition to exemptions from Section 106 and Community Infrastructure, the dis- counts on Starter Homes would be sizeable. As the ambition to deliver Starter Homes
grew and a target of delivering 200,000 was announced, the policy then shifted to an increas- ing focus on including Starter Homes within a new definition of affordable housing. This would allow them to be delivered in place of obligations to deliver affordable homes for rent. In 2016, the Government announced further
support for the policy in the form of £1.2bn of funding aimed at purchasing, remediating and enabling brownfield sites. It was the first round of funding from this, to be delivered through partnerships with certain local authorities, which was announced at the beginning of the year. Finding a policy which is popular among
buyers, builders and local communities is rare, yet Starter Homes has the potential to be this. The principle behind bringing brownfield sites back into use, while also giving a boost to first time buyers, is an attractive one and squares the circle of how to increase home ownership at the same time as appeasing NIMBY tendencies. When surveyed last summer, the majority of FMB housebuilder members expressed interest in
Tarasafe Ultra H2 0 0
is a high performance slip-resistant fl ooring for wet and dry, barefoot and shod applications, which meets HSE 36+ guidelines. It is suitable for use in all areas where slip-resistance, durability and hygienic conditions are required.
delivering Starter Homes, showing clear support in principle from small developers. Part of this support is no doubt explained by
the redefinition of affordable homes. SME housebuilders in particular know that delivering very small numbers of affordable units on otherwise relatively exclusive developments can make the economics of small scale development extremely difficult. The rising demands for infrastructure and affordable housing contribu- tions from even the smallest development has undoubtedly undone the viability of many small schemes. SME housebuilders will therefore be intrigued
to see how many Starter Homes the Government now intends to deliver, amidst speculation that the 200,000 target will be quietly dropped. In all like- lihood, under the new Government, Starter Homes will continue to have a central place in the new housing mix, but probably quite not to the extent of crowding out other forms of affordable housing. The Housing White Paper recently released
has made clearer what the final policy will look like, with an expectation of 10 per cent affordable ownership units to be delivered on most sites,
but with the mix between Starter Homes and other affordable ownership products to be determined locally.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
