Comments on: Social or Affordable Housing? https://zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk/social-or-affordable-housing/ Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:13:59 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 By: Mary Keating https://zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk/social-or-affordable-housing/#comment-8630 Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:13:59 +0000 https://zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk/?p=5457#comment-8630 Tim,
We are not perfectly clear either. Trying to get to the bottom of the machinations and the negotiations around affordable housing is very difficult. This was the best stab we could make with the information we could access.
Yes indeed committee members voted for affordable housing because no social housing is being offered in these plans ….it is not normal for developers to offer social housing which is generally only offered by those who will manage it, ie the local authority or housing associations. The Save Smallbrook alternative plans have not been developed to the point where the kind of housing is detailed. Social rents equate with social housing so as the plans stand at present there are no flats available for social rents, only ‘affordable’ rents.
There are no plans for schools, medical facilities or other infrastructure. Scary isn’t it.

Thanks for responding
Mary

]]> By: Tim Weller https://zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk/social-or-affordable-housing/#comment-8600 Wed, 27 Dec 2023 17:20:10 +0000 https://zerocarbonhousebirmingham.org.uk/?p=5457#comment-8600 This is a most helpful piece by Mary. I’ve been struggling for years to try and get my head round the difference between social and affordable housing. Mary has made it clearer for me – thank you but I’m still not perfectly clear!
She also explains the complications over percentages and negotiations which will take place in the future , so changes cannot be foreseen now.
I hope I’m of average intelligence but certainly not much more. Therefore, I feel I may be like one of the councillors on the Planning Committee who can easily be bamboozled by clever arguments over figures. And councillors do change from year to year through both elections and leaders changing committee members. Sometimes, no sooner has a councillor understood his/her brief than he gets moved to another committee or is no longer an elected councillor. Hence, Mary writing, “Were councillors misled by these figures since the reality may well be very different?” I certainly would have been misled!

Therefore, …
Did the committee vote for more affordable housing than social housing that is the greater urgency? And this is what the officers were recommending members to vote for?
Am I right in thinking that our Save Smallbrook Ringway’s plans will ensure more social housing than affordable?
I am, of course, on your side anyway but, with my declining brain power, I would like answers to these questions please to help my understanding.
IN ADDITION:
When Mary wrote,
“Even if the flats in the tower blocks planned for Smallbrook Ringway Centre were available
at social rents, would they be suitable for families? Families need ready access to green
spaces, schools, doctors’ surgeries, a whole raft of services and infrastructure that is not
accommodated in these plans.”
Do “social rents” equate with social housing or affordable housing or both, please?
If the urgent need is for more social housing because of more families than there are singles and couples, will our plans include plans for new schools and health centres and where, exactly?

]]>