Transcript Document

Housing the “Big Society”
Phillip Blond
Director, ResPublica
1
The Core Problems
• The ECONOMIC problem
• The SOCIAL problem
• The CIVIC problem
• The POWER problem
2
The Economic Problem
Assets have become concentrated
• The wealthiest half of households hold 91% of
the UK’s total wealth
Source: ONS, Wealth in Great Britain – Main Results from the Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/08 (2009)
3
The Economic Problem
Growing income
inequality (UK)
Index of rise in gross
weekly earnings, full
time males (1978-2008)
Source: Stewart Lansley, “How Rising Inequality
contributed to the crash”, Soundings, Spring 2010
4
The Economic Problem
Wages won’t deliver
(US)
Over the long-term, US
wages have stagnated
in a time of growth
5
The Economic Problem
Warning signs of a
UK decoupling?
Male median wages
have fallen behind
GDP growth since the
early 1970s
6
The Economic Problem
Low-earners have seen less growth,
and even decline, in wages (UK)
7
The Social Problem
Social capital is declining
• 97% of communities have become more socially
fragmented over the past 30 years
Source: Changing UK (Dec 2008), BBC Report
8
The Social Problem
Fear of crime (UK)
Estimate of burglary (%)
Fear has a strong
relationship with
social trust
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0
20
40
60
80
Social trust (%)
9
The Civic Problem
Civic engagement has decreased
• Only 31% of Britons now provide nearly 90% of all
volunteer hours
Source: Third Sector Research Centre (2010)
10
The Civic Problem
Decrease in civic
participation (UK)
11
The Power Problem
Power has pooled in the state
• Nearly three out of four Britons agree that “the
state intervenes too much”
Source, David Halpern, “The Wealth of Nations” (2007)
12
The Power Problem
13
The Diagnosis
Problems with the ‘left’ and ‘right’
• Both welfarism and the ‘monopolised market’ have
encouraged bureaucracy and asset concentration
• The state and the market have squeezed out the
‘civic middle’, stripping it of capital and capacity
14
Housing: Potential Issues
• Retreat of the state from funding and regulation.
• The need for new solutions
• Meeting government policies and reflecting local
communities
15
Housing: Opportunities
• In delivering the localism agenda: enablers and
investors
• As platforms for opening, extending and devolving
public services
• As mutual models
16
Localism
• Local connection is essential
• Housing associations can work on behalf of
communities: e.g. neighbourhood planning,
economic development – Green Deal
• Support those with limited capacity and capital
17
Localism
Tübingen User-Led
Housing:
a self-commissioned
neighbourhood
18
Localism
Tübingen User-Led Housing
• Self-commissioned, self-designed plot by plot
neighbourhood development
• Working in labour and design partnership
• Active participation in delivering solutions rather
than ‘top-down’ standardised delivery
19
Association led Investment
• Housing providers are well placed for broader public
service delivery
• Platform the ‘right to challenge’: ‘right to buy’
• Offer platform for community-based enterprise and
investment: Skill Generating :-Work Programme
20
Active Citizen Developers
Hørsholm Wasteto-Energy:
a neighbourhood
clean-tech incinerator
21
Bottom up Procurement
Hørsholm Waste-to-Energy
• Community not-for-profit asset – shared wins
• Incinerator waste-to-energy plant heats 10,000
homes: cuts heating bills by 30%
• Energy cost savings raise house valuations
22
Opening Public Services
23
Opening Public Services
Poplar HARCA
• Big business, but relevance through local governance
• Asset transfer of underused facilities: community
centres now used for youth groups, health clinics, etc
• Managed by HA but input by and for locals
24
Mutual Models
• Does community-ownership and mutualism have a
role to play in housing?
• Increase accountability and transparency – and
safeguard social mission through a “social dividend”
• Community empowerment
25
Mutual Models
26
Mutual Models
• Anticipated ownership model: membership drawn
from tenants and staff – Rochdale Borough Wide
Housing
• Developing new accountability membership
framework
• Working together to reduce costs
27
Housing the Big Society
• Appeal to the local: be a platform for the Localism
Bill and encourage investment
• Platform provision: open public services and offer
alternatives for delivery local platform for statutory
services – Hubs : -St Georges - Birmingham
• Ground in the social: devolution of governance and
assets
28
The Future
• Social housing as Social Enterprise
• If its Public money has to be for the Public
Good
• Housing no longer enough – that’s the base
not the high bar
29
The New Standard
• Economic – self and community build –
plaform for mass bottom up enterprise
• Social – associate to create capital and skills
• Civic – begin where people are - foster
relationships and fraternity
• Power – change governance – go bottom up
30