CAN WE CREATE SUSTAINABLE HOMES AT A TIME OF CRISIS?

SHAL Housing Ltd from Bridgwater held its Annual Seminar on Friday with guest Speakers Colin Molton from the Homes and Communites Agency (HCA) and Sara Hurst from the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), who talked to an audience of invited guests from both the public and private sector but all with an interest in the future of housing.

With housing high on the political agenda the need for sustainable solutions is also high but is it achievable? This is the question asked at the seminar.

SHAL Housing only operates in Somerset but here, as in many parts of the country, the building industry has been in crisis. And yet the demand for housing remains; it is affordability that remains the problem.

SHAL has hundreds of rented properties across the western half of Somerset and has significant tenant satisfaction with its service. However, of concern is the inability of social landlords to meet housing need. Into this situation the Government created two new organisations in 2008 to bring sense to the national picture.

Sara Hurst stressed the importance of tenants and their views in looking to the future, and said that information is the key. She said tenants should be able to easily know how their landlord is working. She referred to the National Conversation which had taken place earlier in the year where the TSA were consulting tenants and others with a view to building the foundation of their working process and the outputs from this consultation will be published in November.

Colin Molton reported that the main aim of the HCA is to find a way to create sustainable places in which people can live and work and for people to live in homes they can afford. The HCA is the Government’s funding arm.

He said “The HCA is preparing for working together with local partners in a very different world where public funding will become tighter.”

John Thomson, Chief Executive of SHAL said “Social landlords are juggling with a difficult financial situation, the introduction of a new system of regulation and the demands of the community for somewhere to live at an affordable rent. I have no doubt we will achieve what is possible whilst staying in business but the needs of many decent, hard working people will just not be met in the short term”.

Mr Thomson went on to explain that SHAL Housing has significant plans for growth over the coming 10 years but that will only meet a small part of the need. Even with significant effort from all those working in the sector much will remain to be done.