Let’s get new PD rights to speed up delivery of transitional housing.

At the NewHomesNewWays conference a couple of weeks ago and at the Wates Group launch of their WayBackHome playbook, there were several conversations about trying to get new permitted development rights for temporary transitional housing.

I am well aware of my lack of patience so; I wrote to theMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

Dear MHCLG,

Solving the Temporary Housing Crisis

We are spending, as a country, £6.3 MILLION per day on temporary accommodation. 1 in 21 children in London are homeless. 116,000 households nationwide are in sub-standard temporary accommodation. The impacts of this are genuinely devastating.

Rapid-response modular housing can make an immediate positive impact on the temporary housing emergency. Several well established, sustainable, reliable, low cost, high quality modular providers can deliver a significant amount of temporary (5 years), leased, transitional housing, ready to move in, within 6 months. They can do it right now.

To hit that timescale, we need your help. We need emergency legislation (as quickly as you can please) to create a new permitted development right for temporary transitional housing on unused land. The PD Rights should include:

• 5-year permission
• Any land except greenfield, MOL, AONB, SSNI, SSSI
• Minimum 75% of NDSS
• Within 400m walk of any public transport
• Building Regulations Part M4(1) compliant
• Overlooking, privacy and separation distances as LPA policies
• Refuse and recycling as LPA policies
• Cycle parking as LPA policies
• Provide a flood Zone assessment as required by LPA policies

Our industry has the skills, resources, and ambition to make this happen, quickly and at significant scale. Councils have the land. Government has the funding. We can make this happen right now if we want to. Do you?

Kind regards,

Dave Hughes
Design Director

What have I missed? What do we need to do to make this happen quickly. Every day we talk about this is another £6.3 million spent on terrible accommodation.