21st Century Social (Co)housing
A home is a basic human right, however, despite the UK being one of the wealthiest countries on the globe there is an unacceptable amount of people who are homeless or else vulnerably housed. It is no secret that there is a severe shortage of new homes being built in the UK and in England alone more than 81,000 households were found to be homeless during 2012/13. This, at a time when social housing is way down on the Tory Government’s priority list with their ‘Pay to stay’ scheme threatening to bring about the death of social housing altogether. There are also over 9 million renters in England many of whom rely on housing benefit. More often than not private renters act as the means for moving money from government to private landlords.
Housing policy is also relaxing the requirements for new developments to have a percentage of its houses allocated for affordable housing. With a recent report showing that the Government’s proposed 200,000 starter homes will price out the majority of low income families is it time to look to more radical solutions to the current housing crisis? I believe it is time for a progressive 21st century social housing policy that integrates sustainability into its design.
Sustainable material innovations
There are a variety of sustainable material innovations that could be used in the design of 21st century social housing. It is debatable whether clay bricks are environmentally sound or not or whether there is actually a shortage but there are alternatives such as cob, lime, straw bales, hempcrete and even recycled tyres and bottles which have obvious environmental benefits.
A major environmental concern is how to provide energy in the future without the reliance on fossil fuels and how affordable alternatives will be accessible to the those on average to low incomes. A large portion of energy needs can be provided by both national and localised solar and wind technologies; in the case of being off-grid, 100% of energy can be provided by localised sources.
Rainwater harvesting is another sustainable solution that can be incorporated into any design. Systems range from basic tanks that collect rainwater from the roof of houses (usually only used for garden irrigation or non-drinking purposes) to more sophisticated underground storage systems where the collected water is treated and used for all domestic uses including drinking water. This not only reduces the burden on the water table but also on the cost for the individual.
There are now highly efficient methods for heating and insulating homes. The Energy Saving Trust highlights the main ways and the savings that can be made on their website. Houses can also be built with heating and insulation as a central consideration as is the case with a Passive House (sometimes referred to as Passivhaus). This is where very little technology is needed; heating comes from both home appliances and the heat that radiates from the human body. Just as fundamental as these material innovations, if not more so, is the issue of social sustainability. If managed sensitively there is a possibility for enhanced community living which could be realised through social housing. Community forms the bedrock of any sustainable culture and will become an increasingly vital element in solving the social and environmental challenges ahead.
Social considerations
How could social housing be innovative in design and in the development of community? Here are a couple of suggestions…
The ecovillage is a type of intentional community that offers a radical vision for community development. The ecovillage is loosely defined by Robert Gilman as a, “human-scale full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human”. These are popping up all over the world and are usually off grid, low-impact, co-operatively owned and often revolve around a design system such as permaculture.
Another sustainably driven developmental concept is Co-housing. Co-housing is also a form of intentional community, but it is a far less radical model as it requires less social commitment and so offers a more achievable solution. As it states on the UK Co-housing website, Co-housing developments “are created and run by their residents. Each household has a self-contained, personal and private home but residents come together to manage their community, share activities, eat together.” Due to the communal nature of this kind of community, energy needs can be localised with communally owned technologies producing sustainable solutions. Co-housing developed in Scandinavia in the early 1970s in response to the perceived disintegration of community values. There are now 50,000 people (1% of the pop.) living in co-housing in Denmark. In the UK Springhill was one of the first projects based on the Danish model. A development consisting of three, four and five bedroom houses as well as studio apartments. Residents have access to a common house, a laundry room and shared meals if they desire. Another progressive project is LILAC (which stands for Low Impact Living Affordable Community) in Bramley, West Leeds. It states on its website that it’s the “the UK’s first affordable ecological co-housing project: a community of 20 households and a common house.” LILAC used local resourced materials and straw bale insulation in its building; it also incorporated the passive heating system.
What is required is for social housing to be a high priority policy for both national and local government. This policy would focus on the concept of small, innovative community developments built with sustainability and local renewable energy solutions in mind. Alongside this progressive policy would be community and sustainability educational initiatives providing practical courses on cooking, gardening, carpentry etc. These schemes would be grassroots run from the bottom up to cater to each community on a local, case by case basis. Put into this context developments like LILAC and Springhill could be used as a model for sustainable 21st century social housing. Being vulnerably housed is unacceptable in the 21st century and also results in being denied access to the many personal and environmental benefits that these sustainable innovations offer.
So, let us build, and build with an encoded social and environmental sustainable ethic, for the benefit of the people and for the benefit of the planet.
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