In this chapter the focus is on alternative models of urban development to the growth-dependent approach, having particular regard to how diverse social needs can be met through such development, including the needs of lower-income households and the provision of affordable housing for such households. The term ‘affordable’ here is not used in any technical sense or limited by current policy terminology; it is just used to emphasise the importance of providing housing that lower-income households are able to afford. While this chapter begins with such considerations of affordability in relation to housing, the development models considered also provide the potential for a broader understanding of how to meet community needs, including some environmental sustainability concerns.

Affordable housing

The limitations of growth-dependent planning

The core problem where affordability is concerned is that market processes are oriented towards generating new development that meets the demands of those with purchasing power. This does not mean that all development has to be aimed at the highest value end of the market, those with the most purchasing power. As described in Chapter 3, much depends on the balance between the demand for new property in the market and all the costs of providing that development, including materials, professional fees and labour, and also land and finance. This can mean that the gap between development prices and costs of provision are such that medium- rather than high-priced development is what the market actors perceive as the appropriate niche to try and fill in a specific location at a particular time. However, markets tend not to deliver the lowest value property, at least in terms of new development, leaving it to adjustments in the existing stock to meet this demand, often through dilapidated or space-constrained properties. A greater profit can usually be made by building higher value developments.

Previous chapters have shown how growth-dependent planning uses the tools of planning gain and leverage to provide for community needs. Under the New Labour government, it was used to require that a share of a housing development was provided as affordable housing. In London, this proportion rose to as high as 50 per cent under Ken Livingstone's Mayoral regime at the Greater London Authority.