The government should lower its 40% affordable housing requirement when it comes to its New Towns policy, according to Andrew Smith of Phoenix Funding.<\/p>\n
Smith reckons the requirement will prove a barrier to new building.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe target of 40% being affordable just isn\u2019t viable, and the maths doesn\u2019t stack up. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government aimed for a more achievable target, such as 25%, this would still move the needle without stalling the delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government has identified over 12,000 new town sites in the UK, and has pushed for 40% of the new homes in these places to be affordable housing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Smith believes that the key lies in unlocking the power of smaller developers. This means those delivering 10 to 15 unit projects, which often fall below the radar of large national plans.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe\u2026 have previously worked with Greater Manchester councils where public grants can help cover per-unit developer profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, in turn, gives lenders the confidence to fund the rest. This model is simple and can easily be replicated across other councils in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith called for data-led policymaking that overlays the housing strategy with employment hotspots, pointing to the need to avoid repeating the mistakes of post-industrial communities.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIf we build in places without future-proofed jobs, we risk locking people into poverty cycles \u2013 they won\u2019t be able to afford a home in the area as there won\u2019t be any jobs. The steel towns of the 70s are a cautionary tale.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government should lower its 40% affordable housing requirement when it comes to its New Towns policy, according to Andrew Smith of Phoenix Funding. Smith reckons the requirement will prove a barrier to new building. He said: \u201cThe target of 40% being affordable just isn\u2019t viable, and the maths doesn\u2019t stack up. \u201cIf the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-home"],"yoast_head":"\n