Localism Debated at Early Careers Housing and Planning Conference, University of Sheffield.

‘Localism’ defied the bravest attempts at definition from Early Careers and more seasoned academic researchers alike at the Housing Studies Association- supported Postgraduate Conference held at the University of Sheffield on 25 May. During the conference, organised by Richard Dunning and his colleagues in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at Sheffield University, presenters and delegates from across the UK provided a broad picture of the impact the Localism agenda upon a range of issues related to housing and planning.
Professor Ian Cole (Sheffield Hallam University) opened the conference with a discussion on the paradox of the Localist rhetoric and recent political events. He built an argument for the reintroduction of overtly place based policy thinking and a reconceptualisation of government intervention in failing (housing) markets and welfare reforms. A lively question and answer session followed and set the scene for the rest of the day in providing a supportive, but intellectually demanding and rigorous, critique of the presentations. 
Eight early careers presentations covered a range of perspectives, problems and philosophical questions. Dr Sarah Payne discussed the role of the volume house-builder, whilst Rachel Daneman (nee Bland) discussed the implications of Localism on the local authority planner. Eddy Hogg considered the role and engagement of elderly volunteers in the Big Society and Maxwell Ayamba problemitised the relationship of BME groups and Green Infrastructure in the planning system. Abbas Bafarasat delivered a compelling critique of the philosophy of localism and spatial planning and Ann Kolodziejski highlighted a number of questions paramount to mobilising local people in neighbourhoods where sense of place is ill defined and only loosely motivates households. Katherine Brookfield reported on her empirical work with local neighbourhood groups’ perceptions of the planning process and reflected on the impact of perceptions on housebuilding within a localist planning framework.  Matt Thompson’s overview of class divide in pepper-potted estates and Community Land Trusts completed the early careers presentations.
Professor Nick Johnson’s (Urban Splash, The University of Sheffield) provocative presentation raised contemporary issues for the planning and housebuilding professions, and the systematic obstructions engrained in both, which are preventing the development of local communities in new build and regeneration projects across the UK. Professor John Flint and Dr Ed Ferrari responded to the issues Nick had raised and developed the undercurrents of critical thinking running throughout the conference.
The excellent drinks reception provided a social atmosphere to continue developing a response to the issues raised by a Localist approach to planning and housebuilding, as well as fostering the early careers networks necessary for long term collaboration.
The Housing Studies Association was delighted to be able to support this event through sponsoring a number of bursaries and a closing drinks reception. The HSA would like to congratulate and thank the organisers and participants for a very successful conference. More details about the HSA’s sponsorship and endorsement of events and activities may be found by following the link on our website home page.

News from Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research

New publication - 
Measuring the affordability of housing association rents in England: a dual approach
A new journal article has been published by Dr Connie Tang in the latest issue of the International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis. The purpose of this article is to compare relative levels of rental affordability across the English housing association sector, using two methods, rent-to-income ratio and residual income standards (poverty-line and budget standard). The rent-to-income ratio analysis identified that housing association rents were generally affordable. However, the residual income analyses using two different minimum acceptable standards suggested some scepticism in this regard. In particular, both analyses confirmed the affordability problem in London where nearly half of existing housing association tenants had disposable household incomes that were well below the poverty-line as well as the largest rent-to-income ratio. Both analyses also confirmed that lone parents were more likely than average households to have an affordability problem.

The article is published in the International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Vol. 5, Issue: 3, pp.218 - 234. You can access the article online by this link: Measuring the affordability of housing association rents in England: a duel approach

New projects

Welfare reform
CCHPR is working with Ipsos Mori on a major new study for the National Housing Foundation on the impact of welfare reform. The work, which will report in 2014 aims to focus particularly on the impact of welfare reform for the housing association sector and its tenants. It will monitor the impact of reforms as they come into operation next year, including the cuts to housing benefit for under-occupiers of working age, and the changes to the method of payment brought in under Universal Credit.

Maximising the performance of the new Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy Planning Framework with Local Authorities: Developing a Planning Gain Model
The Centre is currently developing a simple model to estimate the impact of charging different CIL and S106 rates on the economic viability of development. The model has huge potential to assist local authorities in modelling the impact of different CIL and S106 rates on the economic viability of development across their area. We propose a project to further develop the model for local authority use. We will work with a sample of local authorities to test and refine the model with a view to eventually making it publicly available for use by local authorities to assist in developing their new CIL and S106 charging frameworks. This will transfer our academic knowledge and expertise into a tool that can be used by local authorities in policy and practice.
Evaluation of lighting interventions
CCHPR is currently starting three separate small evaluations of lighting interventions in housing settings for the Thomas Pocklington Trust. The impact on health wellbeing and reduction in falls will be examined.

Analysis of the PRS in Richmond and surrounding areas
Richmond Council, together with Richmond Housing Partnership, are currently jointly commissioning research in order form the evidence base of their tenancy strategy. This work will help supplement this evidence base by improving understanding of the private rented sector in and nearby to Richmond with a particular focus on the availability of housing for low income groups.

Developing best practice in social care and support for adults with concurrent sight loss and dementia within different housing settings
This project, funded by the National Institute for Health Research seeks to develop best practice in social care and support for people with dementia and sight loss in a range of housing settings. The research is led by York University and CCHPR will lead the element of the study that looks at the costs of care in different settings.

Channel Islands housing markets
An overview of housing markets and their economic context in the Channel Islands, based upon secondary data, has been commissioned by One Savings Bank.

Conference papers
Dr Gemma Burgess, Sarah Monk and Christine Whitehead all presented papers at the European Network for Housing Researchers conference in June. Their presentations were:

The role of regulation in the private rented sector: a comparative study (by Christine Whitehead, Sarah Monk, Sanna Markkanen, Kathleen Scanlon and Connie Tang) conducted case studies of eleven European countries to clarify how regulation had changed over the last thirty years and what impact this has had on the scale of private rental provision.

The role of the planning system in delivering housing choice to older Londoners (Sarah Monk and Gemma Burgess) draws on recent research into the role of the planning system in delivering specialist older people’s housing to explore the barriers to increased delivery and make recommendations for change.

Housing an Ageing Population: Housing Options and the Value of Information and Advice to Older People in England (Gemma Burgess) drew on ongoing work evaluating advice services for older people in England.