Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Your views sought on the draft housing strategy by Haringey
Haringey Council is calling on local residents to submit their views on a 10-year Draft Housing Strategy which aims to better meet the housing needs of the borough's residents.
The four main objectives outlined in the draft strategy include:
* meeting housing need by creating communities with a mix of housing tenure, type and size
* ensuring housing in the borough is well managed, of high quality and sustainable
* providing residents with support and advice
* making all homes in the borough a part of neighbourhoods of choice
A seven-week period of public consultation on the draft strategy is underway and will run until 15 March 2009.
More information, a full copy of the strategy and how to feedback can be found on the Haringey Council Housing strategy page
The four main objectives outlined in the draft strategy include:
* meeting housing need by creating communities with a mix of housing tenure, type and size
* ensuring housing in the borough is well managed, of high quality and sustainable
* providing residents with support and advice
* making all homes in the borough a part of neighbourhoods of choice
A seven-week period of public consultation on the draft strategy is underway and will run until 15 March 2009.
More information, a full copy of the strategy and how to feedback can be found on the Haringey Council Housing strategy page
Tags for Forum Posts: consultation, housing, local ideas, neighbourhoods of choice
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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The phrase neighbourhoods of choice caught my eye - have tracked it down to this paper, but couldn't yet provide a convincing definition......................
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Liz asked if I'd heard of this. Reading the Haringey Draft Stategy, my assumption was that "Neighbourhood of Choice" is one of the latest low-flying buzz phrases; and simply means somewhere everybody wishes they lived!
If you Google it, you'll see it cropping-up in Housing Strategies (so-called) in several UK local councils. Cynically, I wondered if the Audit Commission - or some other quango - had told local councils this was one of the things they have to say, so the boxes are ticked.
My second assumption was that it was either coined by Estate Agents or something the Government picked-up from the U.S. Googling it with the 'bor' spelling, I can see it's both! With U.S. realtors apparently borrowing the phrase from U.S academics. (Our estate agents are still writing nonsense about such-and-such "village".)
So many thanks, Hugh, for the link to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation study. I haven't yet read it, but certainly will. The mention of Anne Power's name is a guarantee of some substantial ideas - and not just phrase-lifting from the U.S.
Interesting too, that it's Hol which is the stimulus and channel for these ideas and discussion. Perhaps some Hol members who work in housing can enlighten us further?
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Have tried to note the main points of the study here for those who don't feel up to 48 pages worth.
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Thanks Liz. Having unearthed the piece I haven't had time to read it! So that's a useful synopsis.
Some interesting stuff there from the author. Very relevant fro Harringay, I think.
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I thought so too, particularly as I feel we are half way there in terms of being a mixed community - it is the thing that comes up time and time again in discussions. These ideas around the phrases 'neighbourhood of choice and connection' seem sensible on the face of it. (The full document is worth skim reading btw)
Well done for picking out the phrase in the first instance, H.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Thanks for your summary Liz.
There appear to be contradictions flowing through the report. Read;
Neighbourhoods of choice are communities in which people of lower incomes can both find a place to start and, as their incomes rise, a place to stay. They are also communities to which people of higher incomes can move, for their distinctiveness or amenities or location. This requires, first and foremost, an acceptance of economic integration as a goal of neighbourhood and housing policy. It so requires a dynamic, market-driven notion of neighbourhood change, rather than any ‘community control’ vision dedicated to maintaining the status quo.
Then read;
This will require national policymakers to: set clear visions; communicate in clear language; provide flexible funding that allows localities to tailor solutions to their places; impose performance measures that are reasonably related to programme interventions; and construct accountability systems that rely as much on market incentives as compliance with micro goals.
Sounds to me like central agencies/govt can't quite let go of the notion of central control & market forces know best. Does the govt think it can manipulate the market (credit crunch)? This report must have been put together before the recent massive failure of markets & central government policy that we're seeing now.
If we take Haringey as an example we need massive intervention measures, not market forces. Rents need to be capped as they are far too high. Young black men particularly need skills and job opportunities. The recent announcement of 2000 apprenticeships provided by the GLA & all 33 boroughs is not enough. Investment in a whole range of neighbourhood facilities is necessary. We need Obama billions, not market forces.
The reality of neighbourhoods of choice is Stoke Newington and other parts of Hackney. Stoke Newington Church Street to eat & shop in for those 'middle classes that have moved into the area' & the High St for those on low/benefit incomes. It's a microcosm of a divided community based on divisions in income, education & opportunity.... papered over with the liberal niceties of such things as the annual 'Stokey Festival'.
'Neighbourhoods of choice ' can never really be solely market lead.
This report was researched and produced in a bygone (pre-crash) era, an era that in itself produced not community cohesion but community division thanks to the reliance on excessive market forces.
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Well the paper was not written by the government, but prepared for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation about 5 years ago so you may possibly be right about the emphasis on market forces although without thriving shops and businesses a community dies on its feet, so the private sector must be involved. Perhaps its the kind of businesses that need to be considered, hence the comment about local markets. The report does acknowledge that these experiences are based on American models and that there are differences between the way society works here and there.
I do feel that the key point now is the second notion of neighbourhood of connection which picks up your point about skills and job opportunities and to get away from these islands of poverty that seem unconnected to the metropolis they are in. He also makes it clear that local solutions, tailored to the needs of the neighbourhood are important and wants power devolved further into the hands of locally elected officials which is the thrust of the Sustainability Act. I don't think we should condemn all that is in this paper because of the market forces element. What I take away from these ideas which make sense to me are
*school centred development i.e. educational opportunities are high and services are good
*neighbourhood policies need to be simple in design, continuous in application, and sustainable over time. It is no good pouring money into complicated projects done to the people, it needs everyone to be involved in the process of place shaping and it is no good having projects that could have the plug pulled if there is a change in who is in charge.
*whether we like it or not, choices are made by people based on economics (house prices, access, shops and services) and planning cannot ignore this.
*Harringay already has a diverse ecomomic and demographic population but many of the 'high enders' don't use local shops, don't choose local schools and don't stay in the community. Any place shaping must tackle this issue head on and plan accordingly. Which is what I took from the summary:
Neighbourhood policies in inner cities cannot ignore the basic forces of choice and competition that drive business and residential decisions in the rest of society.
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