Business Voice: We need to talk about housing - and the change we need

With this in mind, as chair of the Business South Housing Group, we wanted to shine a spotlight on housing here in the Central South with a view to understanding what the current scenario really means for our region. The resulting report Central South: A Call for Housing Change was recently launched at a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons.

During my launch address, I explained it was vital that our own regional housing story is told and understood as part of the current debate – and how intrinsically important having more good quality new homes is to seeing the region able to play its role in the economic and social fabric of the UK.

Through the inclusion of personal accounts from those who’ve struggled with housing locally to the impact that a lack of homes is having on our employers, the report makes a compelling case for why further reforms are needed. Amongst the headlines which help highlight the issues facing those trying to secure a decent home are the following – the ratios to buy a new home in the region range from between 7-10 times an average salary while if you’re renting, average rents now stand at over £1,200 per month.

From the impacts to the issues, the report that we launched also sets the scene on what our Housing Group believes is necessary to help deliver the housing change our region needs, building on the reforms already underway. While the report, which I urge you to review, sets out a number of high-level recommendations, amongst them are the following calls:

• While noting recent changes, there’s an opportunity to make an improved use of existing planning powers to help deliver new homes
• See improved consultee collaboration on planning applications
• The need to see the local plan system, which set out the blueprints for future development in our areas, streamlined – so they’re slimmer and easier to produce with more emphasis on the principle of development
• A need for a new long term funding deal for Central South authorities with housing, planning and place teams and departments at the heart
• Work to build our own educational capacity here in the region, making sure that there’s the town planners of tomorrow as well the next generation of design, development, construction, and housing professionals

In short and as we know, the Central South offers much to the UK as a whole but, to unlock future growth and propel social and economic prosperity, it’s vital our regional housing issues are fully understood, and steps are taken towards addressing them.

In the process of creating our report, we spoke to major employers and institutions about their experience of how the housing situation was affecting their business. A leading university told us they were unable to accept a significant number of really high-quality students who would have positively contributed to our cities and region because of the lack of accommodation – and that, of course, has a knock-on effect with the number of staff they needed to recruit. And a key employer said the existing housing situation was actively impacting on the Central South’s ability to attract and retain talent, which in turn affects the ability of businesses like theirs to achieve future growth plans and to play their role in the region’s economy.

On a more personal note, an admin officer from Southampton spoke to us about the issues she’s experienced with her private rented accommodation and the challenges she faced.

She told us: “Renting is so expensive, and it would be cheaper to have a mortgage but with the current cost of living crisis it’s difficult to save enough for a deposit to get on the property ladder.”

We hope you’ll join us in supporting our call for housing change in the coming weeks and months – and if you’re interested in finding out more, our report can be seen here: www.businesssouth.org/projects/central-south-housing-change/

• This column is brought to you by Business South.