Meeting the challenge of housing growth in
Birmingham
Clive Skidmore – Head of Regeneration and
Development, Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham Position
•
Projected increase in population up to 2031 of
100,000
•
Birmingham Development Plan requires at least an
additional 80,000 new homes by 2031
•
New homes completions in Birmingham have fallen
from 4,000 in 2005-6 to 1500 in 2011-12
•
Increasing demand for social and affordable housing
as result of economic conditions
•
Housing waiting list at 26,000
New council-owned homes at
Merritts Hill in Northfield
Birmingham achieves one full
time apprentice for every £1M of
contract value
The economic case
for housing
•
Housing development contributes 3% to GDP the impact of changes in the housing market
contributed to around a third of total fall in UK
GDP from 2007 to 2009.
•
£1 million of construction work supports 12
jobs in the building and supply chain industries
•
90p of every £1 spent on construction remains
in the UK
What are we
doing?
1. The Council is building new homes itself through the Birmingham
Municipal Housing Trust
2. We have developed a Housing Growth Plan to accelerate housing
development
3. We are working with developers and Housing Associations to bring
forward identified sites in the SHLAA
First BMHT homes occupied by
September 2010
The Birmingham
Municipal
Housing Trust
•
Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT) set up in
January 2009 to lead the development of the Council’s
new build housing programme.
•
The Council has successfully attracted £28M in HCA
funding to build new 1360 homes for rent and sale through
a number of programmes including Local authority new
build, Public Land Initiative, Local Land Initiative and
Affordable Rent Programme.
•
The programme has already created 200 jobs and
apprentice places.
•
The BMHT has already completed over 650 new homes
since 2009 – generating activity worth approximately
£70m in the construction industry;
n
The Birmingham
Municipal
Housing Trust
•
The number of new homes built by the BMHT has
steadily increased annually since 2009;
* 375 completions (rent and sale) projected in 2013-14;
700 completions projected in 2014-15;
* currently 1300 BMHT homes in development on 20
sites across the city;
* scale ranges from less than half a dozen to many
hundreds.
•
Already building up to 25% of the city’s new homes –
goal to increase that to 50%;
How it works
•
The council’s integrated design
team develop schemes with
properties for rent and sale and
secure planning approval
•
Consult with developers at an early
stage to inform design process
•
The council tenders a contract for
developers to both build the rented
homes and to build and sell the
market sale properties. The sale
homes are built according to the
Council’s planning approval with
materials conditioned for sign-off
by the Council
x
•
Landscape design is carefully controlled
by an explicit design guide
•
All BMHT homes for rent are built to
Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4
Homes in Bartley Green
Key Principles
The key principles are –
Using the Council’s land as leverage;
Reducing the “up front” risk to the private
sector;
Sharing the sales risk.
Since July 2011 300 homes have been
sold on through this model;
Most sales have been to first time buyers
- First Buy and now Help to Buy have
been critical to successful selling
Homes on some sites have been sold
“off plan” and for others there is a waiting
list of potential buyers.
The Housing Growth
Plan
•
Purpose of the Plan
•
To set out how the Council will increase
housing delivery in the city;
•
To support the Birmingham
Development Plan;
•
To set out an Action Plan which ensures
that we meet the housing needs of the
city
Key themes within
the Plan – risk
•
How can we incentivise partners to build the new homes that we need?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Revising the affordable housing policy
Potentially using an element of the New Homes Bonus to incentivise development
Ensuring flexibility in the Planning system
Considering if the Council could assist potential owners to purchase homes
Marketing the housing offer in Birmingham
Finding ways to Incentivise the private rented sector
Building quality homes at higher density
Developing new partnership models with the private sector
Finding the land
•
•
Birmingham is a landlocked city, heavily developed
Shortage of land has been an issue since the 1960s
•
So how do we find the land?
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•
•
•
•
•
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Developing surplus Council sites – large and small
Building quality homes at higher density
Developing new partnership models with the private sector
Continuing to identify and release surplus land and work with private developers
Providing new homes outside Birmingham
Developing some of the Green belt
Ensuring that all viable sites in the city are identified and developed
The SHLAA
•
SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2012 recently
published and on the website
•
Projects that 45,000 plots will be available for housing development up
to 2031;
•
35,000 of these sites are already identified;
•
11,000 already have outline or detailed Planning Permission;
Being proactive
• How do we ensure delivery of the SHLAA sites?
• Encouraging land owners to bring SHLAA sites forward for development
where these have Planning Permission
• Making developers aware of the SHLAA sites
• Encouraging Housing Associations to bid for SHLAA sites in the 2015+
Affordable Homes Programme;
• Joining up developers and HAs with the sites in the SHLAA
Conclusions
•
Local authorities cannot build all
the homes we need;
•
Local authorities acting as
developer can make a real
difference though direct delivery;
•
Local authorities need to be
proactive in driving forward
housing growth both through
policy changes and by acting as
enabler.