Housing

"without further action housing will become one of the greatest sources of social inequality in the next 20 years….Every part of the country needs more affordable homes - in the north and the south, in urban and rural communities… We need more homes - but we need better designed, more sustainable homes." Yvette Cooper, Housing Minister speaking at the launch of the housing green paper July 2007. 

The government has recognised the need for major investment in more affordable and more sustainable homes.  The Prime Minister has announced the need for 3 million more homes by 2020 and has set out a pledge of an additional three billion investment for housing.  Spiraling house prices and a lack of affordable homes provide a major challenge.  The picture on the ground is more complex however and includes areas of poor quality neighbourhoods plagued by low employment and incomes, limited aspirations and a decaying infrastructure.  Bricks and mortar are only part of the answer.  The major issue for the housing policymaker and practitioner is being able to tailor their approach to meet the needs of local communities.  This is the only way to ensure that the benefits of intervention are long term.  Factoring in the full range of social, economic and environmental issues is essential to meet the objective of creating sustainable communities.

ECOTEC's dedicated housing team is experienced in working with local authorities and national and regional agencies to develop and implement housing and planning policy.  We work with housing associations and local authorities to support business planning and asset management and with a range of sub-regional partnerships to understand markets and develop policies and strategies to support sustainable and successful communities.

ECOTEC can help you: 

• Understand and define your housing market;
• Carry out Strategic Housing Market Assessment
• Prepare housing investment programmes;
• Develop your housing strategy and policy;
• Understand market change – migration, private rented sector, affordability;
• Evaluate your effectiveness;
• Plan and manage your activities.

Service Portfolio: RENEW North Staffordshire Residents Survey

RENEW North Staffordshire is a partnership of local organisations working together to deliver a multi-million pound Housing Market Renewal investment programme.

 

Their vision is for a thriving and diverse conurbation, where people want to live, work, invest and study, by creating sustainable communities. In order to achieve this RENEW have sought to evaluate the attitudes and perceptions about their housing, areas and local environment.

 

RENEW asked ECOTEC Survey to undertake a baseline survey of 2000 residents in the HMR area and conduct 500 interviews in other local districts. These face-to-face questionnaires were guided by strict quotas based on locality, gender, age, economic status, ethnicity and property type.

 

The findings from the survey were used to feed into a wider programme of research to give an updated picture of current perceptions and attitudes across the pathfinder area and adjacent areas.

ros.grimes@ecotec.com
+44 1782 612 122

Other projects in this Portfolio