September 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference is bringing together key stakeholders with policymakers to examine priorities for housing in London, focusing on the way forward for improving housing delivery, affordability, and quality - and reducing homelessness.
The agenda:
- Implementing the Mayor’s Housing Strategy and priorities for the new London Plan
- Delivery of affordable homes - accelerating construction, priorities for the planning framework, diversifying funding routes, and increasing local authority and sector collaboration
- Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping across London and making accommodation more accessible - improving prevention measures, spaces for temporary living, and support in the wake of the pandemic
- COVID-19 and London’s housing market - restarting construction, targeting stimulus in the economy, and meeting demand for outdoor spaces and digital infrastructure
- Ensuring the right homes are built in the right location - design, innovation, and integrating with wider new and legacy local infrastructure
- Next steps for improving housing quality across London new builds - accommodation and building safety standards, affordability, and sustainability
The discussion at a glance:
Delivering new housing supply sustainably and cost effectively
- strategic partnerships - working with housing associations, supporting developers with gaining land access, and retrofitting existing buildings and property stock for residential housing
- the planning framework - decision-making powers for boroughs, build-out rates for quick delivery, and improving land use
- investment and delivery - new funding streams, working with private sector funders, new incentives, and allowing Boroughs to generate additional revenues for housing funds
The London Housing Strategy
- delivery - looking at key objectives around affordable housing rollout, quality homes, and addressing homelessness
- affordable homes - options for social rent levels, innovative ownership models, ensuring new developments are affordable, and refusing conversion of social rented homes to higher rents
- diversifying home delivery partners - and accelerating building rates across the private sector, housing associations, community-led organisations and councils
- homelessness and rough sleeping - developments in tackling the issues and making accommodation more accessible - prevention measures, spaces for temporary living, and council cooperation
Planning reform
- Planning for the future - implications of the White Paper for housing development design to deliver the scale, quality, and affordability of required homes in London
- housing design and innovation - the impact of the National design guide, next steps for utilising modern methods of construction (MMC), meeting demand and nurturing a sense of community
- development opportunities - utilising the availability of brownfield land, regenerating local sites, coordinating with boroughs, and maximising connections to transport infrastructure
- wider infrastructure development and housing projects - transport projects to enhance communities, link to delivery of new homes, increasing connectivity to employment
Protecting residents in the private rental sector
- leasehold - modernising the regime to improve ownership rights and accountability, and ensuring renters receive a fair deal and quality services
- affordability - strategies for future interventions and schemes
- safety and quality - enhancing building safety standards and making sure new builds meet The Future Homes Standard
Overcoming construction challenges presented by COVID-19
- the creation of a new Covid-19 Housing Delivery Taskforce - priorities for policymakers and stakeholders across London in supporting new developments and sector resilience
- restarting construction - economic priorities, restoring employment in the sector, working with key partners, and making land sites and permits more attractive for developers
- sector recovery - creating a plan that incorporates all aspects of the housing sector including supply chains, investors and boroughs
- the role of local boroughs - continuing the expansion of new affordable and social housing and supporting vulnerable groups
A scan of relevant developments:
- The London Plan - and the response from the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
- Planning for the future - the White Paper setting out measures aimed at streamlining and speeding up the planning process
- The Next Steps Accommodation Programme - to support new tenancies and property costs for vulnerable people provided with emergency accommodation during the coronavirus pandemic
- Mayor proposes priority housing for London’s COVID heroes - including access for key workers to shared ownership and London Living Rent homes, plus a consultation on home allocation and affordability, and taking views from Londoners on types of intermediate housing that are most needed
- rough sleepers - the Mayor securing £67m of government investment to provide 900 extra homes for former rough sleepers at an affordable rent
- Reforms to the planning system - allowing a range of commercial properties to be converted into housing without planning permission, and easier property extensions, from September
- The Draft Building Safety Bill - with wide-ranging changes designed to improve building and fire safety, including the creation of a new Building Safety Regulator
- London’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment – outlining London’s housing potential capacity, appropriate development sites, and local, environmental, policy and economic factors
- a buyer of last resort scheme - the Mayor and Taskforce call on ministers to enable councils and housing associations to buy private homes at cost price and transform them into social housing
Policy officials attending
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stake holders.
This conference is no different. Places have been reserved by officials from the Greater London Authority; the Department of Housing Planning and Local Government; the MHCLG; BEIS; the Department for International Trade; the Home Office and the Law Commission.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
