Tommy's Real Estate’s Post

'The deputy prime minister announced plans last month for the “largest housebuilding programme since the postwar period”, kickstarted by the construction of a generation of new towns. Designed to help meet the government’s target to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, the plan is inspired by the creation in England of dozens of communities after the second world war, including at Stevenage, Warrington and Milton Keynes. About 189,260 homes were built across the UK last year, with about three-quarters from the private sector. The last time more than 300,000 were built in a single year was 1977, when about half were built by councils. Maurice Lange, an analyst at Centre for Cities, said: “While the government hasn’t given a timeline in which a certain number of houses should be delivered by new towns, the implication is that it sees these projects as an important part of delivering the 1.5m homes promised in its manifesto. Past experience suggests that the policy can accelerate development in certain areas, but its role in increasing total housebuilding is likely to be relatively small. This underlines the need to combine it with wider reform to make the planning system more purposive and predictable across the UK.”'

Member Fresh Hope Communities has had to scale many hurdles to realise the potential of these high-quality, build-to-rent affordable homes that will soon welcome tenants in Marrickville, Sydney. The project, in partnership with Nightingale Housing, is an excellent example of what can be achieved on disused church land, supported by churches of Christ in NSW & ACT’s commitment to continue the community narrative of the site. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what faith-based community housing providers in partnership with faith communities can deliver. However, as Samantha Hutchinson’s story reveals, red tape and additional costs threaten to delay and derail the creation of much-needed affordable housing. Important changes that the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure can make: - Include land zoned ‘place of public worship’ for housing and in proposed reforms - Prepare design guidelines to enable medium-density housing developments in heritage conservation areas and on land subject to heritage designation. Read more details in our recent submission: https://lnkd.in/giJCxfxY #affordablehousing #planning #heritage #housingjustice #YIGBY #innerwest #housingcrisis https://lnkd.in/gSXJdxjS

Rising costs, low inventory, and high demand for housing are impacting all states. Homeownership isn't a reality for many in Hawaii. Construction companies are challenged with many issues. Join BIA Hawaii on June 6, 2024, when Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB AVP, will discuss the issues and share NAHB's forecast for single-family and multifamily housing. https://lnkd.in/guqqKtCw Building Industry Association of Hawaii National Association of Home Builders Danushka Nanayakkara #construction #homebuilding #economicforecast

The antithesis of Jane Jacobs This is an absolute DISASTRE for heritage buildings in Calgary. A huge economic disincentive is being created to redevelop vs retain (heritage )- its is so obvious . Why would anyone (apart from some charitable souls) keep a heritage building when it’s more economically attractive to redevelop than retain ?! The group-think among so-called “progressives” in Calgary is off the charts - and the City Planning department has less creativity to deal with this than the chickens I used to have. Blanket rezone -wow that’s creative . Without mitigation strategy to make it economically equivalent to retain a Heritage property as to redevelop it , this will be a disaster. The city makes mistakes constantly and repeatedly . It upzoned bridgeland in the 1970s and saw the community empty of owner occupants and huge disinvestment - so it had to change course and downzoned again . The 2008 Hillhurst Sunnyside ARP was a huge boondoggle - upzone parts of heritage community without any mitigation strategy . Heritage has been lost and will continue to. . Either create proper mitigation tools for heritage or leave inner city alone . BTW will be bad for affordability too - many older properties are broken into multi units and is cheap housing Bad, bad , bad

Our MD Mark White has penned his thoughts about the content of today's King's Speech: “Having stalled the submission of some planning applications over the past 18 months, we have made up for lost time in recent weeks, attempting to lodge our plans ahead of the stampede. Bargate Homes Ltd currently has 10 major planning applications that are being processed, or are just about to be submitted, which could deliver over 800 mixed-tenure homes in sought-after neighbourhoods.   “With mandatory housebuilding targets back in play, we are having productive conversations with planning officers and feel confident that our applications are being assessed with an open mindset. This is encouraging us to examine a handful of new potential development opportunities, especially as some prime sites are now coming to market.   “Following today’s State Opening of Parliament and the King’s Speech, the SME housebuilding community is ready and waiting for more detail and action, as there is so much to do to reverse the damage done by Michael Gove. We expect changes to the NPPF to be tabled later this month, but the implementation must then be fast-tracked.   “The ‘get Britain building’ mantra was in the King’s Speech, which is so encouraging, but we all need to know how and when. Housing is so critical to the health of the economy and we cannot wait until the end of this five-year Parliament term to see new government policies enacted at a local level.    “The chronic problem with the planning process is that it’s so politically motivated at a local level, against a backdrop of the new build sector’s poor reputational image. NIMBY resistance has got the UK to a position where only half the annual target of 300,000 new homes will be delivered during 2024… so how can 1.5million new homes be built before 2029?    “Angela Rayner and Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook need to act quickly to eradicate all the barriers for pre-commencements. Section 106 negotiations should be concurrent to the review of a live planning application, so that housebuilders don’t end up missing crucial ecology seasons – or go out of business because they can’t start on site. "As soon as housebuilders can build more homes, we can also generate more tax revenue and long-term economic value.” Read the full article via showhome: https://lnkd.in/dbE4ncdN

If you want to understand why not enough affordable housing gets built, it isn't just down to central government policy indecision or Treasury department dictates. Estate regeneration projects have always enjoyed their share of controversy. They can only proceed if residents, planners and politicians will it. In the case of the Aberfeldy Estate in #towerhamlets, the planners supported it, the residents wanted it (93% Yes vote on a turnout of 91%), the Mayor of London has backed it, but the scheme has been blocked by local politicking - read Dave Hill's article, below: #housingcrisis #londonhomes

In February, I convened California officials, preservationists, housing activists, and academics to discuss the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's new Housing and Historic Preservation Policy Statement at a Los Angeles roundtable. During that event, we discussed how historic preservationists can play a bigger role in policy solutions to increase housing supply, including the conversion of commercial buildings to housing and ADU construction. Just a few months later, it is awesome to see the California Preservation Foundation and YIMBY Action working together with State Rep. Matt Haney to craft a new bill that would speed the conversion of commercial buildings to residential uses while protecting historic resources. Preservationists can use their creativity and flexibility to help adapt our historic places to meet modern needs. I look forward to seeing more preservationists participate in coalitions that push for policy innovation around tax incentives, zoning and building code reforms, and other procedural changes to expedite the projects we need - including office-to-housing conversions, enhancements to accessibility, and increased residential density in historic areas. A few links: The ACHP’s Housing and Historic Preservation Policy Statement: https://lnkd.in/eueW4b-D A recording of the ACHP’s Los Angeles Housing and Historic Preservation Roundtable: https://lnkd.in/edVPdA-P The new bill: https://lnkd.in/efi87eem

"Angela Rayner has been warned that the government could risk missing its housing targets by placing too much emphasis on creating new towns across England. The deputy prime minister announced plans last month for the “largest housebuilding programme since the postwar period”, kickstarted by the construction of a generation of new towns. Designed to help meet the government’s target to build 1.5m homes over the next five years, the plan is inspired by the creation in England of dozens of communities after the second world war, including at Stevenage, Warrington and Milton Keynes. However, analysis shared with the Guardian by the urban policy thinktank Centre for Cities shows the programme only accounted for 3.3% of all new housebuilding in the 40 years after the postwar 1946 New Towns Act"#ukhousing #housebuilding #socialhousing #affordablehousing #urbanplanning

In common with many in our industry, we were very interested to hear what the incoming Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves had to say in her first keynote speech about planning regulations. It’s fair to say that the time it takes to get schemes of any type through planning has long been a thorn in the side of the construction industry; there are many reasons for delays, from local community concerns through to ecological issues and of course, the pandemic changed working practices for local authority planning teams. So we were encouraged to hear the Chancellor bringing to the fore the need for substantial increases in the target numbers of homes built plus the plans to speed up planning approvals along with the recruitment of more planning officers.  These can only be positive steps for the industry but as ever, the devil is in the detail -so we wait to see how these plans filter down to those of us working at a local level. The key to some of this may be within the proposals for so-called “grey belt” areas and how this is interpreted. The great news for us at FHR is that we’re talking about housebuilding again in a positive light and we are ready for the challenge.

Vancouver’s mountain views are easily the city’s best feature, which is why city council’s recent decision to obscure some of those vistas with taller towers is such a contentious one, reported The Globe and Mail. "Many people likely aren’t aware that many of the sights – such as the iconic one from Broadway and Cambie – are the intentional result of a view cone policy that was adopted in 1989. Those guidelines meant developers couldn’t obscure sightlines from key points throughout the city." "But on July 10, city council voted to eliminate some of those protected views and drastically shrink others – including the one at Broadway and Cambie – without adding any new view cones, following a city staff presentation and comments from the public. Of 38 views, 14 have been eliminated, 11 reduced or altered and 13 unchanged. There was some effort by a few councillors to conduct a separate vote on some of the more important views, but ultimately the ABC party-dominated council voted to not cherry pick." "The ABC party did not campaign on changing the views. It was only after Mayor Ken Sim won the 2022 election that he endorsed altering them, citing a need for housing over scenery. Last year, Mr. Sim and ABC councillor Peter Meiszner introduced the idea to review the city’s view and shadow policies. City staff estimate an additional 15,000 to 75,000 additional housing units could potentially be delivered into current view cone boundaries over the next 30 years. Coun. Meiszner cited advantages to the new policy, including economic benefits, the inclusion of 20 per cent below market housing in new market-rate residential developments, and community amenity contributions that would result from rezonings." "The decision went through without robust public consultation, for what is the biggest change to view protections since they were originally introduced." https://lnkd.in/gF2xH-SJ #vancouver #viewcones #development #policy