CONFERENCE OF THE ISLES NOVEMBER 2013

1. CONFERENCE OF THE ISLES NOVEMBER 2013 MOVING TOWARDS TENURE NEUTRALITY Robin Lawler Northwards Housing Chief Executive

2. Is it really about tenure? • The economy and Housing have separately considered and planned in isolation for too long • Need to balance personal needs with needs of property • Do we mean mixed tenure communities or mixed income? • I will therefore explore the approach to housing and the economy in Manchester and Greater Manchester • And what that means for housing tenure www.northwardshousing.co.uk

3. Greater Manchester Strategy 1 • GM Strategy agreed by 10 LAs working through AGMA and now the GM Combined Authority • Underpinned City Deal • GM has: - 2.7 million population – fastest growing city after London - 93,000 businesses - 1.14 million jobs - 2nd most successful economy outside London - £48.2bn GVA - Bigger than Welsh (£47.3bn) and Northern Irish (£29.9bn) economies www.northwardshousing.co.uk

4. Greater Manchester Strategy 2 But GM “punches below its weight due to low productivity” (MIER) because: • Worklessness and low levels of economic activity • Unemployment increased by 24,500 since 2008 • Number of active businesses decreased by over 1,000 • Housing market remains stagnant Despite reductions from last CSR, public sector spend across GM is increasing – particularly as a result of increasing costs of welfare benefits www.northwardshousing.co.uk

5. Greater Manchester Strategy 3 The biggest challenge facing GM is to tackle the “growth deficit” That is, £5bn shortfall between £22bn of public spending compared to £17bn of taxes generated GM Strategy key objective is to close (and ultimately eliminate) that £5bn defecit - so that GM becomes a net contributor to the UK economy www.northwardshousing.co.uk

6. Greater Manchester Strategy 4 To achieve that objective GM needs to face up to challenges of: • An ageing population • Concentrations of unemployment and low skills • Changes to welfare system • Increasing personal self reliance • Reforming public services • Creating conditions that make GM “an investment destination of choice” GM Strategy expresses this as Living Quality Lives in Quality Places www.northwardshousing.co.uk

7. Living Quality Lives in Quality Places GM Strategy states that “creating quality places will be critical to success” which means: • Making the most of distinct cultures, constituent parts and communities of GM • Recognising importance of relationships with surrounding areas – Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire – and access to other major conurbations – Merseyside, Leeds, Sheffield; and • Protecting natural environment to improve quality of life for residents Ultimately, GM needs to make neighbourhoods sufficiently attractive to attract and retain the diverse labour market required to support growth objectives GM Residential Growth Strategy developed by GMCA supports GM Strategy www.northwardshousing.co.uk

8. Manchester’s Community Strategy 1 • Owned by the Manchester Partnership the City’s Community Strategy draws on the same body of evidence as GM Strategy in the Manchester Independent Economic Review (MIER) Reaching full potential in education, skills and employment Driven by the performance of the economy of the city subregion Success – larger, wealthier population, living longer, happier and healthier, lives in diverse, stable and cohesive communities Neighbourhoods of choice Individual and collective self-esteem/mutual respect www.northwardshousing.co.uk

9. Manchester’s Community Strategy 1 cont’d “The priorities of Manchester’s Community Strategy are entirely consistent with GMS” and they so they should be!

10. Manchester’s Community Strategy 2 Delivery through Investment Board and Thematic Partnerships Plus 5 Strategic Regeneration Framework Delivery Groups – Districts within the City 3 Strategic priorities for 2011-15: • Promoting private sector growth • Reducing worklessness • Raising aspiration Critical to Manchester’s future success will be to connect benefits of growth to local residents in our most deprived communities Tackling the “two speed economy” www.northwardshousing.co.uk

11. Neighbourhood of Choice 1 Manchester had – until last 10 years – exported its most enterprising people to outer boroughs and beyond Neighbourhoods of Choice was designed to retain people in work and attract new people to the city The Partnership’s aspiration is to increase housing choice by seeking to raise proportion of owner-occupiers – was 60% for City and 47% in North Manchester This was developed at a time when MCC was undertaking Housing Options Programme to ensure their homes met Decent Homes Standard www.northwardshousing.co.uk

12. Neighbourhood of Choice 2 But quality and affordability of housing are just 2 factors Other essential ingredients are: • Reducing crime and fear of crime • Effective response to ASB • Educational attainment (esp. post 11) • Environmental quality • Transport • Shops and other local amenities • Reputation Wider neighbourhood agenda being delivered through SRF Delivery Groups- supported by Local Area Co-operation (Accountability) Framework www.northwardshousing.co.uk

13. Manchester Housing Stock Options Programme 1 www.northwardshousing.co.uk

14. Manchester Housing Options Programme 2 • Within the City: 5 council-sponsored stock transfers- now 4 trusts after merger - 1 ALMO - 4 Private Finance Initiative schemes • Out of City Estates: mixture of transfers to existing social landlords www.northwardshousing.co.uk

15. So what does that mean for Manchester’s Neighbourhoods? Increase in owner-occupation has stalled in most neighbourhoods Rise in private sector homes, particularly in city centre and student areas, and in response to limits on owner-occupation Welfare Reform impacting adversely on poorest neighbourhoods (80p in £ lost to local economy) Decent Homes Programme largely delivered, but need to deliver Decent Neighbourhoods Fuel Poverty is on increase and likely to get worse – 21.7% in GM Life chances restricted by poor health, poor diet, alcohol abuse, low educational attainment, low work skills www.northwardshousing.co.uk

16. What is Manchester’s response to Neighbourhood issues? Collective response at District, City and GM level with appropriate political leadership At SRF level: • Shared delivery plan & resource alignment • Physical investment • Transport improvement • Major school infrastructure improvements • Investment in people • Investment in communities • Looking beyond short-term impact of welfare reform • Public service reform renewal • Neighbourhood renewal www.northwardshousing.co.uk

17. North Manchester approach Partnership approach to Public Service Reform – troubled families Working to reduce dependency and increase enterprise Shared action to tackle worklessness Partnerships with local schools Creating confidence for private investment – significant land opportunities Transport improvement through TfGM www.northwardshousing.co.uk

18. What does that all mean for Tenure? • Generally across Manchester there is sufficient social housing • New social rented homes are keeping pace with RTB sales • Asset Management Plans are driving strategy for replacement or renewal of social rented homes • Older Persons’ Housing Strategy being developed to meet challenge of ageing population • Manchester working with HCA (and others) to develop new home ownership and mortgage products • GM Pension Fund to invest in private rented schemes • Social landlords taking on PRS management www.northwardshousing.co.uk

19. Questions? robin.lawler@northwardshousing.co.uk 0161 720 5821 www.northwardshousing.co.uk