The UK has been grappling with a housing crisis for decades, with local authorities under increasing pressure to deliver sustainable, affordable homes in the face of huge viability challenges.
Rising construction costs, investor caution and an ‘uncertainty premium' in an increasingly volatile economy continue to place pressure on housing delivery.
Yet as developers, investors and local authorities gathered in Leeds for the UKREiiF conference, a round table convened by The MJ with Habiko, a national housing partnership between Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), Muse and Homes England and a collection of experts, revealed a growing consensus around the solutions that are helping to unlock development and accelerate delivery.
Bringing together senior local government officials, housing and place experts from across the country, the discussion highlighted not only the barriers facing councils, but also the partnerships, delivery models and policy changes that are creating opportunities to build more homes.
Despite the geographic spread of participants and the different landscapes they work with, there was a striking consensus: demand for housing is not the problem and there is no lack of ambition. Instead, councils are working to overcome a widening gap between construction costs and housing values, growing pressure on public finances and the challenge of assembling land and infrastructure at the scale needed to deliver growth.
‘There is no shortage of demand,' said one attendee. ‘The challenge is making the numbers work.' As another participant put it, housing delivery has become a question of ‘viability, viability, viability'.
Participants pointed to a growing range of approaches that are helping to make schemes viable and bring forward development that might otherwise stall.
Partnership models emerged as one of the most important tools available to local authorities. Several participants highlighted joint ventures and strategic development partnerships as effective ways of sharing risk, creating certainty and unlocking sites that would otherwise remain unviable.
There is no shortage of demand,' said one attendee. ‘The challenge is making the numbers work
For some places, that means packaging highly viable sites together with more challenging locations – or grouping a series of smaller sites together – to create an attractive proposition for development partners. One participant explained that they had been ‘quite intentional about what we've put in and out… that's enabling us to bring forward another 500 homes.'
But someone pointed out: ‘That relies on you having that asset, doesn't it?'
Others spoke about the value of building long-term relationships with developers rather than relying on site-by-site procurement exercises.
As one participant suggested: ‘It moves beyond a JV or a partnership on a particular site to say, how do we do this more collectively without competing and stealing labour, from each other. We've got to do it in a different way.'
The message was clear: scale matters, certainty matters and partnership structures are increasingly becoming the vehicle for both.
The financial realities facing councils remain significant. Even authorities with relatively strong housing markets reported challenges in making schemes stack up.
One participant described an area with ‘hyper viability but no viability at the same time'. While land values are high, it remains ‘incredibly difficult to make the numbers add up'.
To be able to afford a home in their area, residents would need salaries far higher than the local economy supports for most people. They explained: ‘I can build five-bedroom homes for people that are retired with lots of money…but that doesn't deliver a housing need or for our economy of place.'
To address this, the authority is exploring new approaches to land assembly and strategic delivery.
‘We'll be looking for a whole-city developer partner to try and work to extract the land elements, because I think we're going to have to go hard and use compulsory purchase orders to get the land to deliver the homes on any kind of scale.'
It moves beyond a JV or a partnership on a particular site to say, how do we do this more collectively without competing and stealing labour, from each other. We've got to do it in a different way
Another participant described a significant housing shortfall and a similar viability challenge. In response, they are working closely with Homes England and government, using ‘every tool in the box' – including grants that exceed the value of the houses – to get homes built.
Land assembly emerged as another area where participants saw opportunities to accelerate delivery. Fragmented ownership, unrealistic land value expectations and delays in bringing strategic sites forward remain obstacles, but there was broad support for stronger and more proactive use of compulsory purchase powers where necessary.
Attendees noted that local government has lost some of its historic expertise in this area, highlighting the importance of rebuilding capability and confidence. One participant described recently completing a complex compulsory purchase process because there was simply no other route to delivery.
Another recurring theme was the importance of investing in infrastructure before development begins.
Participants pointed to examples where significant public investment in roads, utilities, bridges and site preparation had reduced risk and created development-ready plots. They argued that infrastructure-first approaches not only improve viability but also help build confidence among local communities and investors.
Take politics out of planning immediately, because that is just a massive handbrake on delivery
Councillors and local residents are still ‘scarred' by regeneration programmes where housing arrived years before supporting infrastructure and amenities.
‘Getting the amenities and the infrastructure in up front, or as close to up front as possible, is hugely important,' it was suggested. ‘It has a massive impact on the communities that live there.'
As one contributor observed, much of Europe already follows an infrastructure-first model, while the UK has often expected the private sector to absorb those upfront risks.
Participants also highlighted the growing role of devolved governance structures in unlocking investment and speeding up delivery.
Those from mayoral combined authorities argued that the greatest benefit was not necessarily additional funding, but stronger relationships with government, improved access to Homes England and the ability to bring partners together around shared priorities.
Working with a stronger voice in government makes it easier to secure funding, transport links and infrastructure investment in a co-ordinated way.
Those outside mayoral structures voiced concern that a two-tier system is beginning to emerge. As one attendee put it, devolution changes ‘the door you go through to [get to] government'.
One participant explained that a mayoral authority changes ‘how funding flows'. It creates inequity in access to housing across the country. ‘We'll have areas that are just going to be first and others that are going to really struggle for a very, very long time.'
Alongside devolution, participants pointed to a changing relationship with Homes England as a positive development.
Rather than acting solely as a funder, the agency is increasingly being viewed as a convenor capable of bringing together government departments, councils and investors around shared objectives.
Examples were given of integrated place teams and co-located decision-making structures designed to simplify engagement with the market. The Leeds Growth Team was highlighted as one example of public bodies presenting a single front door to developers, helping reduce complexity and improve co-ordination.
When asked what single change would make the greatest difference, participants returned to a familiar set of themes.
Longer-term funding settlements topped the list, reflecting the reality that regeneration and housing programmes cannot be delivered within short spending review cycles.
Others called for greater consistency in planning policy, better integration between housing and infrastructure funding, faster delivery of transport and utility connections and reduced political uncertainty around major schemes.
One participant suggested: ‘Take politics out of planning immediately, because that is just a massive handbrake on delivery.' There was also a strong sense that government departments continue to operate in silos despite increasingly place-based ambitions.
Despite these challenges, the mood around the table was not pessimistic. Participants pointed to strong housing demand, significant regeneration opportunities and a growing range of delivery tools already making a difference.
What emerged most clearly was that the solutions are increasingly understood. Strategic partnerships like Habiko are helping to share risk and unlock sites. More proactive land assembly is bringing forward development opportunities that would otherwise remain stalled. Infrastructure-first approaches are building confidence among investors and communities alike, while closer collaboration between councils, Homes England and government is helping to accelerate decision-making.
The challenge now is not identifying what works, but scaling it. This will require longer-term funding settlements, better alignment between housing and infrastructure investment, stronger support for land assembly and greater certainty in planning and delivery.
With demand remaining high and ambition undiminished, the focus must shift from managing barriers to creating the conditions that allow successful models to be replicated across the country.
The message from the round table was clear: housing delivery will depend on a more co-ordinated, public-partnership-led approach, with government, councils and industry working together to provide the certainty, infrastructure and investment needed to build the homes communities need.
Participants
Fiona Piercy, director of capital projects and sustainability, Liverpool City Council
Vicky McDermott, director of housing and communities, Newcastle City Council
Tom Southhall, assistant director of economy, transport and planning, Portsmouth City Council
Robin Tuddenham, chief executive, Calderdale MBC
Michelle Burdett, strategic director, East Suffolk Council
Garry Taylor, director of city development, York City Council
Zoe Dunn, head of housing delivery, York City Council
Paul Richards, deputy chief executive, Stockport Council
Tracey Lee, chief executive, Plymouth City Council
Lee Arnell, head of place and regeneration programmes, Leeds City Council
Lisa Gledhill, managing director – national partnerships, Muse (Habiko)
James Agar, head of real estate origination, Pension Insurance Corporation (Habiko)
Paul Marinko, deputy editor, The MJ (chair)
Heather Jameson, editor, The MJ (reporting)
COMMENT
By James Agar, head of real estate origination, Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) and Habiko
The discussion rightly identifies the core constraint facing the affordable housing sector today: demand is strong and enduring, but delivery is regularly constrained by viability, uncertainty and fragmentation.
Habiko was established precisely to respond to these challenges. As a long-term public-private partnership between PIC, Muse and Homes England, it brings together institutional capital, development expertise and public sector alignment to unlock housing delivery at scale. Our model is designed to address the structural issues highlighted in the discussion, particularly risk allocation, land assembly and funding certainty.
Habiko operates through strategic, place-based partnerships with local authorities, rather than transactional development. This reflects the clear need for deeper, longer-term collaboration to unlock complex sites, accelerate decision-making and create a more coherent delivery pipeline.
With an aim to bring forward 3,000 low-carbon, low-energy affordable homes for rent, Habiko prioritises locations where the market needs are underserved by the market, close to employment opportunities and transport hubs so that they are built with long-term efficiency and affordability in mind.
Structured to support an infrastructure-first approach, Habiko deploys capital into enabling works and up-front social impact to de-risk the development of new homes, enhance community outcomes, and crowd in additional investment over the long term. This directly addresses the market failure identified around upfront infrastructure funding and developer risk appetite.
As a national platform, Habiko acts as a convening vehicle, aligning central government, local authorities and private capital around shared delivery objectives, while supporting consistency in funding and planning frameworks.
Delivering affordable homes at scale requires a shift from fragmented, short-term models to integrated, partnership-led platforms.
Habiko is designed to be exactly that: providing the scale, certainty and alignment needed to turn ambition into delivery.
