Having completed its passage through the House of Commons last week, the Housing and Planning Bill, as is wont for most government bills, remains intact.
It may receive a bumpier ride when it hits the House of Lords, where the Conservatives do not have a majority, but in theory at least the government remains on track to deliver 1m homes by 2020. Do the provisions put in place so far mean that this is likely to happen?
The two most newsworthy elements of the bill have been the starter homes and Right To Buy elements.
For Right To Buy, the leading candidates for mayor of London had the spotlight turned on them as they battled it out over amendments to mitigate the effect of the policy in the capital. Goldsmith was backed by the Conservatives, and his amendment to build two new council houses for every one sold was passed.
This focus on making sure that supply does not decrease is welcome, although arguments remain on whether the units gained will be as affordable as the units lost, and whether they should be in the same location.
But the starter homes initiative is the government’s flagship and, like most flagships, is the one that the opposition would most like to attack while not wanting to be seen as anti home-ownership. The bill itself, at the moment, does nothing more than give a glimpse of the overall policy. We expect to see a consultation on starter homes in the next few weeks, with more detail.
Although we at the BPF can see a need for a low-cost home-ownership product, we are worried that a mandatory on-site starter homes provision would act as a significant deterrent to build-to-rent investors, who generally do not like broken blocks. We are concerned about the damage this element of the bill would do to supply just as the build-to-rent sector starts to make a difference.
The other aspect of the bill, which has not gained the same attention as the housing provisions, has been its planning aspects. The provision for central government intervention if local authorities do not have local plans in place by 2017, which was outlined before last year, is something that we support.
A further announcement of interest was an amendment passed by housing minister Brandon Lewis that could lead to planning authorities contracting out the processing of planning applications. This is not a cure-all for the housing supply, but with local authorities hamstrung by lack of resources, it could help speed up the planning process.
Put together, these measures show that government is moving in the right direction. As to whether they facilitate the delivery of 1m homes by 2020, there are two points worth raising.
The first is a technical point: there is a lot of work to be done to turn these policies into reality. Governments often think that when policies are passed, that is job done, but it is only the start. Take the £1.2bn starter homes fund – it will take one hell of an effort to get that spent.
Contrary to some views, public money is generally spent cautiously. Due diligence is thorough and takes time. Even when the bill is passed, developers will not be able to start instantly building starter homes.
It is that practical reality of converting policy into practice that will determine more than anything whether the pledge of 1m homes to be supplied by the end of this parliament is met.
Second, the build-to-rent sector offers an excellent opportunity to make some headway into that figure. With £30bn to invest in it, this sector could help the government to meet its own ambitious targets.
Ian Fletcher is director of policy, British Property Federation
