NHC Submits Consultation Response to Housing White Paper

The Northern Housing Consortium has submitted its official response to the UK Government’s recent Housing White Paper. We welcome the opportunity to engage with government to support the development of an effective housing strategy that works for all localities across England.

In shaping our response to the White Paper, we held a series of member engagement roundtables and were pleased to host the Housing Minister in Gateshead. Our response has also been driven by the ongoing work of the Commission for Housing in the North.

We recognise that this White Paper is focused on housing supply and it was never intended to be a White Paper that would capture the wider holistic role that housing can play in shaping communities, improving life chances – including health and well-being. Our responses to the White Paper consultation focuses on supply. However, we feel strongly that the White Paper should have given more consideration to the importance of existing stock and the role that regeneration can play in supporting the supply of the right homes in the right places.

Notwithstanding the omission of regeneration in the White Paper, NHC members broadly welcomed the White Paper as it demonstrated a good analysis of the challenges facing housing supply and has made useful steps towards developing some solutions.

Read our full submission here.