Housing Strategy and Provision Flashcards
What is a Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) and how is it prepared?
SHMA is an assessment of future housing requirements in an area.
It looks at scale, mix and range of tenures. It is used by strategic planning authorities to inform housing targets
The NPPF expects strategic policy-making authorities to use the standard method for assessing housing need set out in national planning guidance
Tell me about the standard method
The standard method calculates minimum local housing need based on household growth projections in an area. It is adjusted for affordability and capped depending on the status of relevant strategic policies
A 35% uplift is then applied for urban local authorities in the top 20 cities and urban centres list (includes all London boroughs)
Can you give me an example of an element included within a SHMA?
- Total population
- Changing age structure
- Changing household formation rates
What is a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) and how is it prepared?
It is an assessment of the future land supply which is suitable, available and viable for housing development.
It is a required part of the evidence base to inform plan-making and decision-taking, and the identification of a 5-year supply of housing land. It is key for Local Plans (Mayor carries out a London-wide SHLAA to inform the London Plan).
It involves identifying sites and broad allocations with potential for development, assessing their development potential, and assessing their suitability, availability and viability
How do the SHLAA and SHMA work together to help identify allocations?
SHMA is used to identify housing need, which provides the starting point for establishing the housing requirement
SHLAA helps identify sites which are suitable, available and viable for residential development, which informs site allocations and housing requirements for the plan period
What housing policies are being implemented at a national level?
National housing target is to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by mid 2020s
NPPF – ensure a sufficient amount and variety of land comes forward to meet housing needs without unnecessary delay, by requiring strategic policy-making authorities to:
o Undertake SHMA and SHLAA
o Demonstrate a 5-year supply of housing land to meet their housing requirement in adopted strategic policies
o Monitor and report delivery of new homes
What housing policies are being implemented at a regional/local level?
London Plan target is to deliver a 52,000 homes per year
Expects these to be focused on six strategic sources of land:
o Sites with PTAL 3-6 located 800m from a station or town centre boundary
o Mixed use redevelopment of car parks and low density retail parks and supermarkets
o Housing intensification of other appropriate low density sites in commercial, leisure and infrastructure uses
o Redevelopment of surplus utilities and public sector owned sites
o Small sites
o Industrial sites identified for intensification
Tell me about housing tenures and how these are defined?
- Market housing – homes for sale or rent on the open market
- Affordable housing – homes for sale or rent for people whose
needs are not met by the open market
What are the affordable options in the current market?
The main options are:
o Social Rent – homes for rent at rents set by the Social
Housing Regulator formula, typically 50% market
o Affordable Rent – homes for rent at a minimum 20% discount
to market including SC, typically capped at Local Housing
Allowance
o Intermediate – homes for sale or rent for people can’t afford
market or Social/Affordable Rent, including:
Shared Ownership – where you buy a share of the
home and paid rent on the rest
Discount Market Sale – homes old at a minimum
20% discount, no rent paid on remainder
What other options are there in London?
The Mayor promotes London specific tenures.
These include:
o London Affordable Rent – fixed rent for whole of London
based on number of bedrooms, exclusive of SC
o London Living Rent – ward-specific rents calculated by
the GLA, max household income of £60k
o London Shared Ownership – where you buy a 25-75%
and pay rent on the rest, max household income £90k
Where might it be possible or appropriate to provide residential development without affordable housing?
New developments that are considered to be minor - under 10 homes.
What does the London Plan say about affordable housing?
Strategic target of 50% affordable housing, subject to an FVA or the Threshold Approach
Target affordable housing tenure split:
o 30% Social Rent or London Affordable Rent
o 40% Intermediate (London Living Rent and London
Shared Ownership)
o 40% LPA determined
Tell me about the deliverable five year housing land supply?
The NPPF requires Local Authorities to identify and annually update a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide a minimum of five years’ worth of housing against their housing requirement in adopted policies (or their local housing need where the strategic policies are more than five years old)
How is the 5-year housing supply calculated?
It is calculated by Local authorities. They use written evidence from developers and review the planning status of large sites
What is the Housing Delivery Test?
It is an annual test carried out by government to measure housing delivery against housing need
Housing delivery = net additional dwellings over previous three years
Housing need = lower of either an up-to-date local plan housing target or objectively assessed local housing need
