Shelter

http://england.shelter.org.uk

Now is the Time

Millions of people are being pushed to breaking point by housing costs. High housing costs are trapping people in bad housing, causing homelessness and wrecking people’s chances in life.

• More than two million households are spending more than half their income on housing costs.[1]
• Nearly a quarter of the country’s households (six million) suffer from stress or depression worrying about their housing costs and four million people admit it’s kept them awake at night. [2]
• In the last year a quarter of all households have had to reduce their food shopping in order to meet housing costs and over a third have cut back on family treats.[3]

At the heart of Britain’s housing problems is the failure by successive Governments to build enough homes to keep pace with demand.

We have an historic opportunity to fix this.

In 2007 Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged to build three million new homes in England by 2020 to help ease the housing crisis.

We need to ensure that the right kind of homes are built in the right place and offered at the right price. It is vital that a significant proportion of new housing is affordable, including social housing for rent.

With Shelter's Now is the Time Campaign we are calling for more affordable homes, protection for people who are homeless or in bad housing and an end to the housing divide.

Our 12-point plan

Build homes

Without more affordable housing, many people have no realistic hope of accessing a decent secure home.

1. The Government has pledged three million new homes in England by 2020. It should set targets for what proportion of these will be social rented and for low cost ownership.
2. The housing sector must work with local, regional and national government to maximise delivery of new homes and to meet the target to build 45,000 social rented homes each year in England by 2010-11.
3. House-builders, planners and Government should ensure that all new homes are built as part of mixed and sustainable communities. The homes themselves should meet rigorous design, space and environmental standards.
4. The Government and housing providers should create a simpler range of low-cost home-ownership schemes, affordable for people on below average incomes and ensure that such schemes do not reduce the social housing stock.

   Protect people

   People who are badly housed, or at risk of homelessness because of high housing costs, need robust protection from eviction, repossession and homelessness.

5. Lenders should only use repossession as a last resort, providing more active support to homeowners to prevent their difficulties from escalating and working with advice agencies.
6. The Financial Services Authority should improve the enforcement of rules on lenders’ repossession behaviour and should regulate sale and leaseback schemes.
7. New guidance should be issued so that courts grant possession only if they are satisfied that the lender has looked at all the options and has no reasonable alternative.
8. The Government should strengthen the safety net for people in danger of being repossessed, by improving both state and private mortgage protection.
9. Landlords, local authorities and the Government should consider innovative models to improve the security and affordability of private renting.
10. The Government should improve the housing benefit system by addressing shortfalls in the private rented sector, increasing administrative efficiency and tackling poverty trap effects.

    End the housing divide

    The gap between housing haves and have-nots is widening and there is a danger of this inequality becoming entrenched for generations.

11. The Government must review and reform property taxation to make the system fairer. This should include consideration of council tax, stamp duty, inheritance tax and capital gains tax.
12. The Government should take measures to prevent unsuitable house price rises. This should include examination of the way housing demand is influenced by the ease of access to mortgage finance.

Growing Fresh Air

Paris_23-25/3/09

After seeing some interesting housing types and re-used buildings in Paris i decided visit the city for a couple of days to give myself a better understanding of the projects!

These are some pictures from my visit:

Villa Grow

One of the challenges of prefab housing solutions is that not all families live the same way, resulting on standard environments not suitable for family living. With this in mind, KKA (Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture) desgined Villa Grow, a Villa that is adaptable to all to all kinds of families and can be extended as they grow.

This villas have a common basic unit that can be extended by adding new modules. The angles at the end of each unit allow for different orientations, on which you can have a linear house, a patio house, or an organic layout that opens to the landscape. They can even be put together to form a large neighbor.

Interesting presentation on how an evolving family (single with dog, just married, 2 kids…) can grow its house by just adding modules as needed, a true custom prefab.

The Villas are sold in the United Kingdom and Sweden, and are produced by Kjellgren Kaminsky and Emrahus.

I think this is a really interesting proposal and touches on parts of my big idea, about different types of housing that cater for different demographics of people (diversity)and how these models are integrated in a community sense!

RMJM launch new housing design in response to tough financial climate

UK-based international architects RMJM launched the ‘MiLoft’ design, with its rooftop ‘aloftments’, at the international property market MIPIM in Cannes this week. The concept is targeted at homeowners who wish to experience loft style living, without the need to buy a penthouse, and true affordability both in terms of purchase cost and energy usage.

In addition to protecting the environment by using zero carbon technology and sustainable materials, the MiLoft design will mean significant savings for homeowners and occupants with minimal energy usage and running costs. By using innovative ‘Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery’ (MVHR) technology designed by award-winning Max Fordham Consulting Engineers, heat generated within the home – such as body heat and heat from household appliances - is reused to maintain indoor air temperature at a constant level, negating the need for a traditional heating system. In the summer, the dual aspect, double height loft-style and open plan living space will provide natural ventilation in high temperatures, reducing the requirement for air conditioning for hot climates. Rain water is collected from the roof and redistributed for toilet flushing.

In addition to meeting government targets for sustainability, the new housing model has a low construction cost, starting at £55,000 per unit, and the modular design, with shallow foundations requiring little groundwork, means that the blocks can take only five months to build. Made from responsibly sourced timber with steel stiffeners, the units are designed to fit on the back of a truck for easy transportation from the factory direct to the site.

MiLoft is the brainchild of RMJM’s Group Design Director Tony Kettle, who is also responsible for the design of Gazprom’s Ohkta Tower in St Petersburg, which will become the tallest tower in Europe and one of the most low energy high rise buildings in the world as a result of unique technology which minimises the need for heating despite temperatures dipping to minus 30 degrees.

On his MiLoft concept, Tony Kettle commented: “MiLoft is a new model for urban living providing a far better quality of life with the minimum impact on the environment. In a world hit by recession caused by overconsumption and greed, it illustrates that good things need not cost the earth. We aim to revolutionise affordable housing supply across the world.”

Urban Agriculture - Building Center

This is an exhibition at the Building Center (Date: Main Gallery, 9 April - 30 May 2009)

A must see for me as it may have an impact on my major project!

Exhibition Blurb:
In 2007 Lord Cameron of Dillington, first head of the Countryside Agency, famously remarked Britain was ‘nine meals away from anarchy.’ Our food supply is almost totally dependent on oil (95% of the food we eat is oil-dependent) and if the oil supply to Britain were suddenly cut off Lord Cameron estimated it would take just three full days before law and order broke down. We rely on a particularly vulnerable system. Britain needs to seriously invest in agriculture infrastructure if we are to avoid food crisis.

Cities are the most likely to feel the effects of any food shortages. In 2000 consultants Best Foot Forward estimated that Londoners consumed 6.9 million tonnes of food per year, of which 81% came from outside the UK. With a weakening pound importing food has become increasingly expensive. The transformation of cities from consumers of food to generators of agricultural products not only increases food security but contributes to sustainability, improved health and poverty alleviation.

This exhibition demonstrates various methods by which food production can be incorporated into the urban environment at both an industrial and domestic level. We hope to help stimulate the debate and raise public awareness of our increasingly fragile relationship with the food on which we rely on and the method of bringing it to our table.

New Energy