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Sustainable Development Homes and Communities Agency Strengthening Regeneration, Integrating Sustainability
Richard Kulczak e [email protected]
07 March 2013
UK
1. To see how well we are getting on with these aspects of SD here in England through the lens of the HCA.
2. To understand what, if anything, is holding the HCA back from delivering sustainable development.
3. To propose some interventions that could be implemented to improve the HCAs capacity for delivering SD.
Threefold Goal
Part I Who are the HCA and what do they have to do with Sustainable Development?
Richard Kulczak 07 March 2013
Homes and Communities Agency
National housing and regeneration agency
Regulate social housing
Create new affordable homes and thriving neighbourhoods
Under the DCLG umbrella
HCA Current role & function
Purpose is to contribute to “economic growth”
Help communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity
Deliver quality housing that people can afford
HCA Investment webpage © HCA: Urban Design Compendium
© HCA: Urban Design Compendium
HCA Objectives “Improve the supply and quality
of housing
Secure the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure
Support the creation, regeneration or development of communities or their continued well-being
Contribute to the achievement of sustainable development and good design, with a view to meeting the needs of people.” Housing and Regeneration Act 2008
© HCA: Urban Design Compendium
Housing Corporation English Partnerships
Commission for New Towns Urban Regeneration Agency
Tenant Services Authority Homes and Communities Agency
Department of Communities and Local Government
Homes and Communities Agency + 2 other NDPBs
DCLG & HCA websites + archives
Housing & Regeneration delivery • Investment planning w/councils • Collaborate to “deploy resources and expertise” • Partnering & Knowledge-sharing • Monitoring & Regulating Social Housing
In this context, SD ideally equates to:
Social sustainability Suitable, decent housing facilities and infrastructure
Sustainable Development?
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES seek to holistically combine these three pillars of sustainability towards the end goal of self-sufficiency and facilitating low-carbon, sustainable lifestyles
Economic sustainability Cost effective and resource efficient proximity to areas of appropriate economic activity to provide jobs and social structure
Environmental sustainability Use of local, renewable, low carbon materials, processes and labour
Part II Homes and Communities Agency Constraints Challenges Messages
Richard Kulczak 07 March 2013
Homes and Communities Agency
Housing shortages and population issues
Economic and employment issues
Increasingly challenging targets
Regeneration is not always housing-led
Sustainable construction ≠ sustainable behaviour
Sustainable regeneration relies on ‘second-degree’ unsustainable inputs and externalities
Constraints Conditions or Implementation
On-going changes and developments in government policy
Coalition austerity measures mandated HCA 50% budget cut, reorganisation
Coalition's lack of engagement with the sustainability agenda
Confused use of SD terminology = ‘sustainable building & construction’
Regeneration has become a ‘poor relation’ to affordable housing provision
Constraints Institutional or Structural
[the HCA has to become] … smaller, more strategic – with the HCA's functions being delivered under local leadership.
– Grant Shapps
“
”
Source: Mark Easton, bbc.co.uk
Integration of sustainability principles throughout the agency
Delivering government’s green promises through continued austerity
Continuing to deliver satisfactory standards of projects and services with a 50% reduced staff and budget
Advancing the regeneration agenda and housing quality and quantity targets
Challenges
©changemakers.com
> A broad scope of somewhat limited depth remains uncoordinated with certain key premises of sustainability
> Holistically incorporating natural environment interfaces, biodiversity and urban ecology
Key Messages
Knowledge and practices are well-informed and sufficiently broad
Targeted Social Housing continues to benefit local communities
MAIN POSITIVES
HCA housing © BDmag.co.uk
Delivering all their Objectives
Failing on regeneration
Social housing targets unmet
Human and Financial Resources highly stretched
Challenged by Decentralisation
Commitments to Sustainability, Design, etc. are questionable
Focus on appropriately diverse areas for Sustainability deficient
MAIN NEGATIVES
HCA website
Key Messages
Knowledge and practices are well-informed and sufficiently broad
Targeted Social Housing continues to benefit local communities
MAIN POSITIVES
HCA housing © BDmag.co.uk
Delivering all their Objectives
Failing on regeneration
Social housing targets unmet
Human and Financial Resources highly stretched
Challenged by Decentralisation
Commitments to Sustainability, Design, etc. are questionable
Focus on appropriately diverse areas for Sustainability deficient
MAIN NEGATIVES
HCA website
Richard Kulczak 07 March 2013
Homes and Communities Agency
Part III Moving Forward How can we strengthen the HCA to address these challenges?
Efficient, targeted expansion of, or concentration on, regeneration remit, in combination with community remit
Strengthening But HOW?
HCA could Regroup or Redirect under the regeneration umbrella to:
Focus on implementation of regeneration for sustainability Concentrate on enabling and delivering mixed-
use community regeneration projects Integrate sustainable regeneration or sustainable
communities initiatives Promote greater pre-emptive engagement of
local authorities and delivery partners
Strengthening FIVE POINT PLAN
Seek and implement alternatives to housing-led regeneration, focusing more on localised, targeted interventions, and more mixed-use
Divest regulating capacity and/or non-critical responsibilities for social housing providers, codes, standards, and design-related issues
Adopt alternative governance strategies that enable much greater integration of cross-sector sustainability
Revise organisational objectives and internal policies to support embedding sustainability more effectively
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5 Create a holistic delivery model that:
Addresses responsibilities for environmental sustainability individually by location;
Provides social infrastructure where locally required to form the critical mass necessary for social sustainability; and
Enables greater self-sufficiency through such measures as on-site ‘urban agriculture’ and ‘energy production’;
4 Engage a more INTEGRATED agenda that: mandatorily links sustainable regeneration + every housing project
Strengthening FIVE POINT PLAN
Targeted programme focus > HOLISTIC SUSTAINABILITY External communication and promotion
Creation of more Resilient Communities responding to change
Social cohesion through improved facilities and infrastructure, and increased attention to local development needs, case-by-case basis
Less long-term investment required in social and utilities infrastructure through creation of more self-sufficient communities
Reduced life-cycle costs to individuals, communities, government
Better use of resources throughout project life-cycle: embedding holistic sustainability on a much larger scale & much deeper than simple collections of buildings for social housing
Improved national sustainability associated with providing programmes with positive long-term impacts
Strengthening Anticipated Outcomes P O S I T I V E S P O S I T I V E S
Resistance from housing-led organisations and HCA staff, who would continue to see the delivery of affordable housing, with or without a “critical social mass” or ‘successful communities’, as paramount goal
Political Support or rather the difficulty finding government support for divesting responsibilities to other quangos / NDPBs
Financing any change goes against the grain, disrupts the status quo and usually requires cost/benefit assessments, political backing, etc.
Project costs likely to increase in the short-term due to mandatory social and environmental sustainability requirements, reflecting the true cost of development and environmental and social welfare
Existing and previous projects will lose out on this suite of benefits
Strengthening Anticipated Outcomes N E G A T I V E S N E G A T I V E S
Part IV What next?
Final thoughts, Further Questions…
Richard Kulczak 07 March 2013
Homes and Communities Agency
SUSTAINABILITY INTEGRATED AS A DRIVING PRINCIPLE =
= wider scope sustainable development = greatly improved results = overall sustainability, in both short- and long-term
> shift towards regeneration > holistically sustainable communities
central guiding role
Principles of Sustainability not central driving forces X
> function of housing delivery > building regs + central government
Is the problem of embedding holistic sustainability internal, external or hybrid and compound, and realistically can it be addressed with current resources and within current structures?
Can a department continually challenged by diminishing fiscal and human resources be expected to deliver objectives of increasing variety and complexity?
How can we talk sensibly about budget funding redirection from external ‘insurance policies’, such as National Defence, to ‘internal insurances’ such as public welfare and environmental sustainability within the country?
Can we really engage the political elites with these critically important, widespread and urgent issues within an economic and political system currently aligned with the interests of big business and moneyed elites?
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