OPINION: Unintended Consequences
KENT BARKER wonders if objecting to small-scale housing developments might prove counterproductive.
By almost any criteria, housing in Hastings is in crisis. It’s not just that nearly a thousand people are officially classed as homeless; nor that there were nearly 500 households in temporary accommodation at the start of the year; nor that the average wait for social housing is over twelve months; nor even that house prices have risen more than 10% in the past year. No, the biggest problem is that simply not enough houses are being built.
It’s important to understand that there are no ‘council houses’ in Hastings. And even if the council were able to build them, they would be subject to the ‘right to buy’ and quickly taken out of the social/rental housing pool. It’s down to social landlords – Housing Associations – to provide affordable accommodation, though that too is subject to the right to buy. But they can only build new houses if they have the land. And locally, land for housing is scarce.
So bad is the situation that the council is planning to borrow £11 million and buy 50 existing private homes for temporary housing. Problem is that the price of private houses continues to rocket. Figures from the Land Registry show house prices in Hastings had gone up by an average of over £4,000 in just one month. In March this year, government figures showed that average house prices in Hastings had reached just short of £300,000. A year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent.
This house price inflation has two important consequences. First it makes it harder – or impossible – for first time buyers. Secondly it means that fewer private rental properties are likely to come onto the market and, if they do, rents will be concomitantly higher. And private rents are already vastly outstripping Local Housing Allowance or LHA (housing benefit).
Last September HIP reported that a room in shared accommodation advertised at £700 a month was 116% above local LHA, while a four-bedroom property at £1,595 pm was 60% above the limit. Cllr Maya Evans, lead HBC councillor for housing said recently: “With more people becoming unable to rent privately, the number of people needing temporary homes continues to rise…hundreds of residents need somewhere stable and safe to call home.”
Adding to the woes, Hastings’ population is anticipated to increase by about 12% over the 20 years up to 2039. So 22,000 additional people will be looking for homes. And how many are being built? About 200 dwellings per annum. But that’s against official figures that say 420 are required.
With this background, you might have thought that HBC would welcome any proposed development land and fast-track planning consent for new homes. Yet as we report on Page 4, an application for a modest development of a dozen houses off Barley Lane in Clive Vale has been turned down for a second time. Planning officers concluded the benefit of new homes would not justify the destruction of a local wildlife site. Looking at the area some might wonder just how important it is – given that it’s immediately adjacent to the 342-hectare Hastings Country Park – a vast wildlife habitat.
The council was, no doubt, influenced by the large number (more than 100) of local objections, as well as its own environmental policies. But there’s a countervailing view that unless a lot of ‘infill’ sites are developed, those surrounded by existing housing like the one in Barley Lane, there will be increasing pressure for much larger housing ‘estates’ which will eat up swathes of green-belt, agricultural, or parkland.
The need for new housing is clear. But have we got the balance right when viable projects are turned down? While objectors’ motivations may be to preserve local habitats, that rather militates against building the houses we so clearly need.
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