Dame Kate Barker of the Barker Commission outlined initial recommendations for the new housing minister, Matthew Pennycook MP
Dame Kate Barker, chair of the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission, has released a public memorandum for housing minister Matthew Pennycook MP, outlining her initial recommendations to tackle challenges in housing.
The memorandum outlines 18 of the initial recommendations made by Barker.
Time to end the ‘permacrisis’
In order to tackle what Barker refers to as the ‘permacrisis’, she recommends a two-stage approach to reforming policies, with the intent to first and foremost instate a solid policy framework, with which the second stage can be bolder.
The Barker commission’s report details another 17 recommendations, including:
- Reinstate the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU) as soon as possible
- Streamline existing funding pots and processes
- Recognise the critical role of institutional investment into housing
- Enable public land to be used more effectively for housing
- Significantly boost the supply of small and medium sites and delivery by SME and community-led developers
- Recognise the evolution beyond costly ‘fabric first’ retrofit
- Rethink the role of Homes England as a master developer
Barker commission hopes these recommendations will be heeded
In her memorandum, Barker writes:
“Despite strong support for her original report, a recent review by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) found that only eleven of its 36 recommendations are currently in place.
“Sadly, most indicators of housing market health are worse today than they were twenty years ago. In particular, there has been a failure to link new housing with infrastructure delivery and also, since the financial crisis, a further decline in the supply of new social rent homes.”
It is hoped that the Barker Commission’s initial recommendations will be heard early by the new government, and that they will bring about real change within the housing industry.
