The recently released Montague report on housing thankfully opens up discussion of some of the issues of housing in the UK and may help us start to address issues such as, supply and demand, quality of housing, meeting sustainability through economy of scale, creating flexible living arrangements to suit contemporary lifestyles, whilst providing longer term tenancies and security for those that require it. Essentially it requires responding more closely to the needs of users.
This comes at an appropriate time, when the planning system is recognising the importance of community, with a move towards a bottom up approach in the planning system, an active encouragement of community involvement and favourability towards development – where it is sustainable.
The suggestion that the government should assist in releasing public land and encourage local planning authorities to recognise the role of private renting is a welcome one. Furthermore, the call for local planning authorities to distinguish between the demand for rented accommodation and home ownership in the planning system is of key importance. This is due to the implications on land value calculation created by the current presumption that land for homes would be owner-occupied if not specifically earmarked for affordable housing, which of course in turn impacts the cost of development.
If to be successful, an investment in private rental development requires not only confidence from investors, private developers and local authority support, but a cultural shift in our attitudes towards how we live. Perhaps it is a particularly attractive idea to young professionals and families with contemporary ideals of living in high density urban environments, allowing the integration of life and work more closely and reducing the need to travel. The report recognises the importance of establishing street level activity quickly in new developments and the significance of community, including some of civic facilities required to build a community. But we must pay close attention to the dynamics of communities and their requirements; we must recognise the role of high quality public realm and shared space in addition to the quality of living accommodation itself to making these potential developments successful in their long-term use.
Considering that rental communities may only be successful if there is some level of permanency there is need for some mixed use within these potential developments and diversity of properties and tenure. In addition, from an urbanism point of view, we must embrace the idea of place making, the importance of shared space, green infrastructure and the need for a community to contribute to and occupy their surroundings – in order to foster a shared responsibility for them.