strengthening the uk homes and communities agency: supporting regeneration, integrating...

Sustainable Development Homes and Communities Agency Strengthening Regeneration, Integrating Sustainability

Richard Kulczak e [email protected]

07 March 2013

UK

1. To see how well we are getting on with these aspects of SD here in England through the lens of the HCA.

2. To understand what, if anything, is holding the HCA back from delivering sustainable development.

3. To propose some interventions that could be implemented to improve the HCAs capacity for delivering SD.

Threefold Goal

Part I Who are the HCA and what do they have to do with Sustainable Development?

Richard Kulczak 07 March 2013

Homes and Communities Agency

National housing and regeneration agency

Regulate social housing

Create new affordable homes and thriving neighbourhoods

Under the DCLG umbrella

HCA Current role & function

Purpose is to contribute to “economic growth”

Help communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity

Deliver quality housing that people can afford

HCA Investment webpage © HCA: Urban Design Compendium

© HCA: Urban Design Compendium

HCA Objectives “Improve the supply and quality

of housing

Secure the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure

Support the creation, regeneration or development of communities or their continued well-being

Contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and good design, with a view to meeting the needs of people.” Housing and Regeneration Act 2008

© HCA: Urban Design Compendium

Housing Corporation English Partnerships

Commission for New Towns Urban Regeneration Agency

Tenant Services Authority Homes and Communities Agency

Department of Communities and Local Government

Homes and Communities Agency + 2 other NDPBs

DCLG & HCA websites + archives

Housing & Regeneration delivery • Investment planning w/councils • Collaborate to “deploy resources and expertise” • Partnering & Knowledge-sharing • Monitoring & Regulating Social Housing

In this context, SD ideally equates to:

Social sustainability Suitable, decent housing facilities and infrastructure

Sustainable Development?

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES seek to holistically combine these three pillars of sustainability towards the end goal of self-sufficiency and facilitating low-carbon, sustainable lifestyles

Economic sustainability Cost effective and resource efficient proximity to areas of appropriate economic activity to provide jobs and social structure

Environmental sustainability Use of local, renewable, low carbon materials, processes and labour

Part II Homes and Communities Agency Constraints Challenges Messages



Housing shortages and population issues

Economic and employment issues

Increasingly challenging targets

Regeneration is not always housing-led

Sustainable construction ≠ sustainable behaviour

Sustainable regeneration relies on ‘second-degree’ unsustainable inputs and externalities

Constraints Conditions or Implementation

On-going changes and developments in government policy

Coalition austerity measures mandated HCA 50% budget cut, reorganisation

Coalition's lack of engagement with the sustainability agenda

Confused use of SD terminology = ‘sustainable building & construction’

Regeneration has become a ‘poor relation’ to affordable housing provision

Constraints Institutional or Structural

[the HCA has to become] … smaller, more strategic – with the HCA's functions being delivered under local leadership.

– Grant Shapps

“

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Source: Mark Easton, bbc.co.uk

Integration of sustainability principles throughout the agency

Delivering government’s green promises through continued austerity

Continuing to deliver satisfactory standards of projects and services with a 50% reduced staff and budget

Advancing the regeneration agenda and housing quality and quantity targets

Challenges

©changemakers.com

> A broad scope of somewhat limited depth remains uncoordinated with certain key premises of sustainability

> Holistically incorporating natural environment interfaces, biodiversity and urban ecology

Key Messages

Knowledge and practices are well-informed and sufficiently broad

Targeted Social Housing continues to benefit local communities

MAIN POSITIVES

HCA housing © BDmag.co.uk

Delivering all their Objectives

Failing on regeneration

Social housing targets unmet

Human and Financial Resources highly stretched

Challenged by Decentralisation

Commitments to Sustainability, Design, etc. are questionable

Focus on appropriately diverse areas for Sustainability deficient

MAIN NEGATIVES

HCA website



Part III Moving Forward How can we strengthen the HCA to address these challenges?

Efficient, targeted expansion of, or concentration on, regeneration remit, in combination with community remit

Strengthening But HOW?

HCA could Regroup or Redirect under the regeneration umbrella to:

Focus on implementation of regeneration for sustainability Concentrate on enabling and delivering mixed-

use community regeneration projects Integrate sustainable regeneration or sustainable

communities initiatives Promote greater pre-emptive engagement of

local authorities and delivery partners

Strengthening FIVE POINT PLAN

Seek and implement alternatives to housing-led regeneration, focusing more on localised, targeted interventions, and more mixed-use

Divest regulating capacity and/or non-critical responsibilities for social housing providers, codes, standards, and design-related issues

Adopt alternative governance strategies that enable much greater integration of cross-sector sustainability

Revise organisational objectives and internal policies to support embedding sustainability more effectively

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5 Create a holistic delivery model that:

Addresses responsibilities for environmental sustainability individually by location;

Provides social infrastructure where locally required to form the critical mass necessary for social sustainability; and

Enables greater self-sufficiency through such measures as on-site ‘urban agriculture’ and ‘energy production’;

4 Engage a more INTEGRATED agenda that: mandatorily links sustainable regeneration + every housing project

Strengthening FIVE POINT PLAN

Targeted programme focus > HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY External communication and promotion

Creation of more Resilient Communities responding to change

Social cohesion through improved facilities and infrastructure, and increased attention to local development needs, case-by-case basis

Less long-term investment required in social and utilities infrastructure through creation of more self-sufficient communities

Reduced life-cycle costs to individuals, communities, government

Better use of resources throughout project life-cycle: embedding holistic sustainability on a much larger scale & much deeper than simple collections of buildings for social housing

Improved national sustainability associated with providing programmes with positive long-term impacts

Strengthening Anticipated Outcomes P O S I T I V E S P O S I T I V E S

Resistance from housing-led organisations and HCA staff, who would continue to see the delivery of affordable housing, with or without a “critical social mass” or ‘successful communities’, as paramount goal

Political Support or rather the difficulty finding government support for divesting responsibilities to other quangos / NDPBs

Financing any change goes against the grain, disrupts the status quo and usually requires cost/benefit assessments, political backing, etc.

Project costs likely to increase in the short-term due to mandatory social and environmental sustainability requirements, reflecting the true cost of development and environmental and social welfare

Existing and previous projects will lose out on this suite of benefits

Strengthening Anticipated Outcomes N E G A T I V E S N E G A T I V E S

Part IV What next?

Final thoughts, Further Questions…



SUSTAINABILITY INTEGRATED AS A DRIVING PRINCIPLE =

= wider scope sustainable development = greatly improved results = overall sustainability, in both short- and long-term

> shift towards regeneration > holistically sustainable communities

central guiding role

Principles of Sustainability not central driving forces X

> function of housing delivery > building regs + central government

Is the problem of embedding holistic sustainability internal, external or hybrid and compound, and realistically can it be addressed with current resources and within current structures?

Can a department continually challenged by diminishing fiscal and human resources be expected to deliver objectives of increasing variety and complexity?

How can we talk sensibly about budget funding redirection from external ‘insurance policies’, such as National Defence, to ‘internal insurances’ such as public welfare and environmental sustainability within the country?

Can we really engage the political elites with these critically important, widespread and urgent issues within an economic and political system currently aligned with the interests of big business and moneyed elites?

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