Innovation is the key
As you may be aware, public funding for new
affordable housing reduced significantly following national policy
changes under the coalition government.
It is inevitable that this will affect
Longhurst Group’s short-term ability to sustain the exceptionally
high development levels we have enjoyed in recent years – but it
also presents new opportunities.
New opportunities
That’s the view of Ian Jackson, group development director.
“Even when we were drawing down record levels of grant, we never
wholly relied on government allocations,” he said.
“We have always taken an innovative approach
to how we fund new developments through some great partnerships.
The government's change in policy simply means that
it will be even more important to have financially robust and able
partners and developers, which Longhurst Group has.”
It’s a view shared by group chief executive
Bob Walder. “It’s no good sitting back and expecting the same
levels of public grant as in previous years because it isn’t going
to happen – not for Longhurst, not for any housing association,”
he said.
“But we still have a tremendously difficult
housing crisis to deal with and the board’s determination to ensure
that Longhurst plays its part in meeting the massive pent-up demand
out there is undiminished. We are now actively looking for
alternative sources of funding to supplement any public grant as
clearly this is the right way forward.”
Striking the right balance
Planning for challenging times ahead means
that tough decisions have had to be made on how best to
respond to new policies which inextricably link development with
fundamental issues such as length of tenure and rent levels.
But in deciding whether to take advantage of
new rules that allow some homes to be converted from ‘social rent’
to ‘affordable rent’ to raise one-off sums of money for
development, the group has been careful to strike the right balance
that preserves our housing stock and protects residents.
