How do we strengthen local capacity and leadership? “A Kent Perspective” Brian Horton Strategic Housing Advisor 8 Ma

1. How do we strengthen local capacity and leadership?“A Kent Perspective”Brian Horton Strategic Housing Advisor 8 March 2011 Kent Housing Group ‘The Voice of Housing in Kent’

2. LEADERSHIP

3. New Kids on the Block! “If you want people to feel connected to their communities. Proud of their communities. Then you give people a real say over what happens in their communities. And the power to make a difference.” Eric Pickles

4. 3 rules • Localism ii. Localism iii. Localism

5. LOCALISM localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism localism

6. GRANT ON LOCALISM “This new localist approach is about giving control to local people, local authorities, housing associations and developers…these new freedoms can be used to build more affordable homes.” “So Government is getting out of the way where it needs to, and is supporting you where it can. Ultimately, though, delivery depends on the initiative of providers, and the support of local authorities and local communities. “It is now up to you to deliver the homes we need.”

7. Kent Housing Group ‘The Voice of Housing in Kent’ Kent Forum Housing Strategy Significant Challenges also… Significant Opportunities

8. Need vs. Supply Over 40,000 households on Needs Register Fewer affordable Homes today than in 1997

9. Average age first time buyers now 37 and rising!

10. 90’ Cambridge Northampton 60’ Bedford Harlow Colchester Milton Keynes Luton Chelmsford St Albans Luton Oxon Reading Swindon Ramsgate Gillingham Woking Ebbsfleet Ramsgate Croydon Gillingham Basingstoke Margate Ebbsfleet Ashford Margate Dover Sevenoaks Guildford Ashford Tonbridge Tunbridge Wells Dover Folkestone Winchester S’ton Folkestone Brighton Hastings Eastbourne

11. Regional Spatial Strategy Toast

12. There are a number of key housing challenges facing Kent and Medway that must be tackled: • The need to secure the delivery of new homes. • The imperative to achieve regeneration of key brownfield sites across the County. • The need for renewal of existing homes and the return to use of empty homes. • The challenge and opportunity of improving the energy efficiency of existing homes. • The need to consider the needs of vulnerable groups and the support services they require.

13. Shared Ambition for Managed Housing Growth Reflect as well as influence Government Priorities Make a Case for Government Investment KENT FORUMHOUSING STRATEGY: Celebrate Examples of Best Practice Promote Innovation Add value and contribute to delivery of local ambitions Be an inclusive process that builds on existing Strategies 13

14. Proposed Model Strategic picture for Kent and Medway formed around four activity blocks: LDF’s and Local Housing Strategies Local Investment Plans Kent Forum Housing Strategy Housing and Planning Futures …enabling the components to be a catalyst for investor confidence 14

15. Housing and Planning Futures

16. KENT FORUMHOUSING STRATEGY Our Approach: • . Setting out the managed housing growth and infrastructure ambition for Kent and Medway. • . Working creatively and innovatively to secure the investment needed to unlock sites for housing delivery. • . Using publicly-owned land and other assets to drive housing delivery and economic growth. • . Working with government to reform the existing regulatory framework and remove barriers to development. • . Developing new and innovative approaches to regenerate housing in our most disadvantaged communities.

17. In response to these challenges, we have identified a number of key ambitions that we want to deliver across Kent and Medway. 1. The continued delivery of key infrastructure to support managed growth and housing delivery across the County. 2. The continued regeneration of our disadvantaged neighbourhoods to bring them in line with more affluent parts of the County. 3. The provision of choice and affordability in housing for the citizens of Kent and Medway, including rural communities, which meets their needs and aspirations. 4. The managed improvement and retrofit of existing homes to make them fit for now and the future. 5. To support vulnerable people in housing need to fulfil their potential and live a high quality life through the provision of excellent housing and support services.

18. To deliver our ambitions we also need government to play its part: • Simplify the regulatory framework for development, to help get growth in Kent moving again. • 2. Support and enable the delivery of the proposals within Growth Without Gridlock: A Transport Delivery Plan for Kent, to help deliver major regeneration across Kent. • 3. Incentivise public agencies to make public sector land available for development purposes, providing local authorities with the flexibility to share more of the risk in order to reap better rewards upon completion. • 4. Support people’s aspirations for home ownership by offering variants on shared ownership models and finding new ways of financing a wider range of innovative mortgage products. • 5. Encourage investors to invest in the private rented sector in the same way they currently do for other property asset classes. • 6. Give local authorities more powers to be able to use local products that respond to local requirements, flex rents and make greater use of intermediate tenures. • 7. Support the funding of retrofit and the development of wider solutions to improve existing homes. • 8. Ensure that Kent and Medway do not suffer a disproportionate rise in new housing benefit claimants as an unintended consequence of proposed housing benefit reforms.

19. LEADERSHIP FORUM HOUSING STRATEGY KENT LA HA HA LA LA HA HA HCA KENT HOUSING GROUP