Housing Affordability and the role of Technology – Housing Innovation Show
Technology, Policy and Planning: Why the Housing Crisis Won’t Be Solved by Innovation Alone
I joined Gary McLuskey (Greystar), Nick Towe (LoCaL Homes), and Rachel Witcherley (Homes England) to discuss how technology is reshaping Housing Affordability and Social Housing.
The conversation was framed around innovation, efficiency and affordability — but I argued that technology, while essential, can’t solve the systemic barriers holding back delivery on its own.
We have structural and bureaucratic problems that innovation alone cannot code our way out of:
- Planning interventionism: NIMBY objections — often based on false or financially motivated premises — continue to stall schemes that have full officer support. These objections clog up already overstretched planning departments and deter investors.
- Data poverty in councils: Many local authorities still don’t know what land or assets they own. Technology can unlock this, but implementation requires investment, training, and political will.
- Risk aversion: Section 151 officers (effectively the CFOs of councils) face personal liability for financial decisions, leading to paralysis at a time when decisiveness is needed most.
- Budget pressure: With deficits mounting, councils are often forced to sell land to the highest bidder, not the best outcome. The result? Fewer affordable homes and diminished community value.
My proposal is pragmatic: Establish a National Development Agency, led by an independent body such as Homes England, to coordinate development across the UK. Through a centralised tendering platform, SME developers could bid on projects based not purely on land value but on social housing delivery, tenure mix, and timescale.
Combine that with a national reversionary freehold framework, giving local authorities long-term stakes in developments, and we could finally align incentives between the public and private sectors.
The UK doesn’t lack ambition or technology — it lacks coherence. Let’s build that first.
#HousingCrisis #DigitalConstruction #AffordableHousing #PropTech #UrbanDevelopment #PublicPolicy #SocialImpact
