In the past few months, we’ve started to see the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on our economy. One of the key areas that can help it recover is housing, which is why we’re backing the National Housing Federation’s campaign, #HomesAtTheHeart, that’s calling for social housing to be at the heart of the country’s recovery. The NHF has reported that, during lockdown, poor housing has had a real detrimental effect on people’s lives, with nearly a third of British adults having mental or physical health problems due to their housing situation, 11% of adults feeling depressed due to a lack of space in their home and 30,000 people spending lockdown in just one room. But lockdown aside, the figures are staggering. Around 3.7m people are living in overcrowded homes, more than 60,000 families are living in temporary accommodation, 12% of homes don’t have access to outdoor space (rising to 35% for flats) and more than 2m people live in homes of multiple occupancy, sharing bathrooms and kitchens with complete strangers. We’re already in a housing crisis, with the NHF estimating that 340,000 homes need to be built every year to meet the ever-increasing need, and the Chartered Institute of Housing believe that at least 90,000 of these need to be a genuinely affordable social rent, to stop the financial drain of temporary accommodation and housing benefit/Universal Credit. As Grand Union’s Director of Development & Commercial, I believe that everybody should have a safe, secure, comfortable and affordable home, especially in these very uncertain times. Changes to the planning system which make it more accessible, responsive, swifter, predictable and improves the quality of new homes and communities being created, are really positive. However, it is vital these changes do not have a detrimental effect on the affordable homes delivered under the current Section 106 arrangements. In the past three years we’ve been doing our bit to help, by building 750 new homes and investing over £100m in our local economy through this work alone. Over 600 of these homes, or 80%, have come through the Section 106 planning system.
Blog – 80% of our homes have come through Section 106 planning
By Dave Lakin, Director of Development & Commercial
In the past few months, we’ve started to see the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on our economy. One of the key areas that can help it recover is housing, which is why we’re backing the National Housing Federation’s campaign, #HomesAtTheHeart, that’s calling for social housing to be at the heart of the country’s recovery. The NHF has reported that, during lockdown, poor housing has had a real detrimental effect on people’s lives, with nearly a third of British adults having mental or physical health problems due to their housing situation, 11% of adults feeling depressed due to a lack of space in their home and 30,000 people spending lockdown in just one room. But lockdown aside, the figures are staggering. Around 3.7m people are living in overcrowded homes, more than 60,000 families are living in temporary accommodation, 12% of homes don’t have access to outdoor space (rising to 35% for flats) and more than 2m people live in homes of multiple occupancy, sharing bathrooms and kitchens with complete strangers. We’re already in a housing crisis, with the NHF estimating that 340,000 homes need to be built every year to meet the ever-increasing need, and the Chartered Institute of Housing believe that at least 90,000 of these need to be a genuinely affordable social rent, to stop the financial drain of temporary accommodation and housing benefit/Universal Credit. As Grand Union’s Director of Development & Commercial, I believe that everybody should have a safe, secure, comfortable and affordable home, especially in these very uncertain times. Changes to the planning system which make it more accessible, responsive, swifter, predictable and improves the quality of new homes and communities being created, are really positive. However, it is vital these changes do not have a detrimental effect on the affordable homes delivered under the current Section 106 arrangements. In the past three years we’ve been doing our bit to help, by building 750 new homes and investing over £100m in our local economy through this work alone. Over 600 of these homes, or 80%, have come through the Section 106 planning system.
In the past few months, we’ve started to see the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on our economy. One of the key areas that can help it recover is housing, which is why we’re backing the National Housing Federation’s campaign, #HomesAtTheHeart, that’s calling for social housing to be at the heart of the country’s recovery. The NHF has reported that, during lockdown, poor housing has had a real detrimental effect on people’s lives, with nearly a third of British adults having mental or physical health problems due to their housing situation, 11% of adults feeling depressed due to a lack of space in their home and 30,000 people spending lockdown in just one room. But lockdown aside, the figures are staggering. Around 3.7m people are living in overcrowded homes, more than 60,000 families are living in temporary accommodation, 12% of homes don’t have access to outdoor space (rising to 35% for flats) and more than 2m people live in homes of multiple occupancy, sharing bathrooms and kitchens with complete strangers. We’re already in a housing crisis, with the NHF estimating that 340,000 homes need to be built every year to meet the ever-increasing need, and the Chartered Institute of Housing believe that at least 90,000 of these need to be a genuinely affordable social rent, to stop the financial drain of temporary accommodation and housing benefit/Universal Credit. As Grand Union’s Director of Development & Commercial, I believe that everybody should have a safe, secure, comfortable and affordable home, especially in these very uncertain times. Changes to the planning system which make it more accessible, responsive, swifter, predictable and improves the quality of new homes and communities being created, are really positive. However, it is vital these changes do not have a detrimental effect on the affordable homes delivered under the current Section 106 arrangements. In the past three years we’ve been doing our bit to help, by building 750 new homes and investing over £100m in our local economy through this work alone. Over 600 of these homes, or 80%, have come through the Section 106 planning system.