{"id":780629,"date":"2025-03-28T09:18:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T09:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=780629"},"modified":"2025-03-28T09:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T09:29:18","slug":"social-housing-and-skills-what-else-is-needed-to-drive-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/social-housing-and-skills-what-else-is-needed-to-drive-growth","title":{"rendered":"Social housing and skills \u2013 what else is needed to drive growth? \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that long-term economic growth has been a core focus of the government since it came into power last summer. And, with planning reform being a cornerstone of the growth agenda \u2013 in no small part to assist in the delivery of 1.5 million homes during this Parliament \u2013 it\u2019s an ideal time to look to innovative and new delivery mechanisms.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the Spring Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) assessed that the government\u2019s planning reforms will lead to a 40-year high for housebuilding, creating a 0.4 per cent increase in GDP over the next 10 years. With a \u00a32 billion funding boost to build 18,000 social and affordable homes announced earlier this week and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill making its way through Parliament, there is further cause for cautious optimism.<\/p>\n

Even with these positive measures, we have no time to waste in tackling the housing emergency. With 1.3 million households languishing on social housing waiting lists and local authorities having spent \u00a31.24 billion on tackling homelessness in 2022\/23 alone, there is not only a moral but also an economic imperative to do so.<\/p>\n

This is why I am urging chancellor Rachel Reeves to consider RIBA\u2019s proposal<\/a>\u00a0to sustainably fund the building of mixed tenure homes for all.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an idea that reduces the need for continuous central government funding and sees public money going towards building well-designed social housing that lasts for generations.<\/p>\n

Our innovative proposal suggests an initial central government investment via a one-off payment to individual local authorities to build new social housing and homes for market sale, on land in public ownership.<\/p>\n

Profits from all homes sold on the open market are then retained and reinvested back into building more social and market sale housing. With land cost eliminated or substantially reduced, and no profit, the cost of building those new homes is considerably trimmed.<\/p>\n

Our proposal is backed by an economic model which examines factors such as regional differences in house prices and inflation to analyse what level of development is possible.<\/p>\n

And there is real appetite for new approaches \u2013 as we saw at our recent\u00a0Parliamentary reception<\/a>, there is cross-party consensus that we must build social homes to tackle the housing emergency. Beyond this, social housing provision also adds wider economic and social benefits. Recent research estimates that a one-off immediate build of 90,000 social homes would generate an estimated \u00a351.2 billion in positive economic and social impact over a 30-year period.<\/p>\n

Of these benefits, 56 per cent are economic benefits, delivered through the construction and ongoing management of the social homes, 8 per cent are direct benefits to the Exchequer, and 36 per cent are indirect benefits to the Exchequer and wider society, this includes reduction in homelessness and expenditure on temporary accommodation and improved healthcare outcomes.<\/p>\n

Building enough quality social housing to fill the yawning gap in provision that has been allowed to build up over decades is a monumental task. Models like ours can help to solve the housing emergency, but we know some policy change would also be needed to make them as successful as possible.<\/p>\n

Local authorities would need to be empowered to retain and reinvest 100 per cent of the profits they make from the sale of homes. Additionally, they would need the resources and in-house expertise to build and maintain housing and other development on their own land, and other public land.<\/p>\n

We also know that quality social housing must be made available alongside access to decent transport, green spaces, shops and all the other elements that help communities thrive and prosper.<\/p>\n

Architects are ready to help deliver these places, and Skills England\u2019s own\u00a0analysis<\/a> of current and future skills demands highlights that the government\u2019s growth ambitions will require an increased number of architects.\u202fHowever, the planned exclusion of Level 7 apprenticeships from Growth and Skills Levy funding will impact the architecture skills pipeline. It\u2019s imperative that Levy funding remains available for Level 7 to guarantee the skills we need to deliver the government\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

I look forward to working with the government and others across the housing sector to implement this ambitious vision. Piloting our model, alongside other approaches to delivery, and ensuring a pipeline of talent, are crucial steps towards tackling the housing emergency.<\/p>\n

Jack Pringle is RIBA board chair<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no secret that long-term economic growth has been a core focus of the government since it came into power last summer. And, with planning reform being a cornerstone of the growth agenda \u2013 in no small part to assist in the delivery of 1.5 million homes during this Parliament \u2013 it\u2019s an ideal time …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79686,"featured_media":780644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[98067,4621,3832,1276],"yoast_head":"\nSocial housing and skills \u2013 what else is needed to drive growth? \u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The chancellor\u2019s Spring Statement positively focuses on social housing and skills, but more must be done to drive growth, says RIBA\u2019s chair, Jack Pringle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/social-housing-and-skills-what-else-is-needed-to-drive-growth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social housing and skills \u2013 what else is needed to drive growth? 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