Housing and urban planning policy
Research Topic
Language: English
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- How should leasehold and commonhold reforms be designed to improve transparency and fairness for leaseholders (and freeholders on private and mixed use estates), protecting leaseholders from abuse and poor service, and driving increased take up of commonhold?
- What evidence is there more generally of the efficacy of different planning interventions? Which interventions does the evidence show best support prosperity, health and wellbeing?
- Is the housebuilding market more concentrated/less intensely competitive than other markets? How has this changed over time, and how does the UK compare in this respect with other countries? What are the implications of this?
- What are the wider impacts of improving the quality of rented homes (e.g. the impact on well-being, health outcomes, landlords, renters, and the housing market)?
- What are the most effective interventions governments can implement to increase housing supply where most needed?
- How is the strategic regeneration of large areas best managed over the long term?
- What is the most effective means to support community regeneration through use of parks and public spaces?
- How does demand and need for housing compare between London and the rest of England?
- Who is most/least effectively helped by the Homeless Reduction Act? What does that mean for how interventions are best targeted?
- What does the evidence show are the factors that create the greatest potential to build agglomeration economies that benefit local areas and residents in question? And what are the key elements that bring agglomeration benefits– housing, transport, local skills, R&D and business dynamics? Are there costs to agglomeration that that worsen outcomes for residents and neighbouring areas?
- Which planning regime measures have been shown to be most effective in meeting local housing need in different scenarios?
- How can housing quality interventions maximise the benefits of living in a good quality home?
- What are the broader environmental consequences of changes to the housing and planning system, and what is needed to support a lower-carbon future?
- Following COVID, the shift to online retail and increasing densification of cities, what does the evidence show that sustainable urban living looks like, to cater to society’s economic, environmental and social needs?
- What is the evidence of the efficacy of different planning systems across the UK and internationally? Are there particular countries that exemplify the role land use planning can play in serving and supporting communities? How have outcomes been selected, measured and assessed?
- How does well-being matter in the context of levelling up? What are the most effective levers for government (central and local) to affect well-being? How does well-being interact with other place based interventions such as housing and regeneration?
- What role can the planning system play in supporting levelling up? What are its limits?
- What is the trade-off between security of tenure and investment in/supply of private rented housing? How best can the two be optimised?
- What does the evidence show about the future housing needs of older people, and how government interventions affect these needs?
- How should the change in value of an amenity best be assessed where a change of use of a property takes effect (for example, where it becomes housing)?
- What factors can lead to poor building industry compliance within the regulatory regime? And what is effective in motivating industry to comply (including in relation to energy efficiency)?
- What financial pressures does new housing put on local authorities? How does this vary between types and tenure of home, and to what extent are these costs recovered through developer contributions, council tax and other forms of local authority revenue?
- What are the most effective methods for increasing landlord accountability to residents?
- To what extent is housing tenure (e.g. social rented, private rented, home ownership etc) driven by choice? What drives people’s choices? For example, is private renting seen as a ‘stepping-stone’ to home ownership? And how does this vary across different geographical areas?
- What can we learn from regimes where planning and regeneration powers have been devolved from central government towards regions and local stakeholders?
- What does the evidence show in terms of the impact of regulation on private renters? (e.g. if landlords are required to invest heavily in their properties to improve standards, will rents rise?). How does that vary across the income groups of private renters?
- What is the role of commercial property development in supporting growth in places? And what does the evidence suggest about how this may change going forward?
- How have other countries outside of the UK approached planning reform, and what have the impacts been?
- What are the most significant benefits arising from developing brownfield sites and can these be monetised for use in business case appraisals?
- How can we ensure the right housing is built in the right places, and at the right time?
- What is the future need/demand for supported housing and how do its costs/cost-effectiveness compare with alternative types of support?
- What might be the impacts of the drive to reduce housing stock emissions on housing supply and affordability? What is the evidence, including unintended consequences?
- What methods could be used best to assess the impact of planning reforms on housing supply? How might they indicate long term impact on the affordability and quality of both construction and the surrounding environment, as well as achieving net zero housing?
- What is the latest evidence on the affordability of social housing – including across different areas of England, different groups, and/or for different types of social housing? What are the impacts of this?
- What is the best way to model trade-offs and synergies across multiple environmental, social, and economic goals resulting from land use and land management?
- How can we use novel datasets to understand capital investment needs across the UK, including by sector and region?
- What factors will shape the demand for home ownership in future? What will the future trend in homeownership look like under different scenarios?
- What are the key drivers of housing affordability? And what is the role of housing supply within these?
- What explains the sub-regional variation in poor quality housing? How does this vary across the UK?
- How can transport investment release additional land for housing and deliver wider economic benefits?
- What are the benefits of a more diversified housing supply market (in the sense of having a varied mix of small, medium and large-sized developers)? Can they be monetised for use in business case appraisals?
- What emerging evidence is there about the future housing market in a post-pandemic world? And how will net zero carbon emission homes affect this?