This excellent article by Keith Cooper highlights the changing role of local authorities in the Section 106 affordable housing crisis.  

As my quote suggests, I believe local authorities can directly address the issue of affordability themselves; they have to use Section 106 agreements to set out the financial terms on which homes can be sold.  

This isn't anything new; almost 20 years ago there was a guide in the East of England which set out how to approach the whole issue of affordable housing in section 106 agreements in detail.  As that guide stated: 

“Where an authority wants to specify the financial terms for affordable housing, this should be discussed with affordable housing providers and with developers or their representatives (such as the House Builders Federation). It is important to ensure that these requirements make financial sense to the developer and the provider. They should normally be set out within a Supplementary Planning Document which is kept up to date in the light of changing house prices and affordability.”

Whilst parts of the guide are now defunct it does comprehensively set out approaches local authorities can adopt.

We need to hold central what is the purpose of Section 106 affordable housing; as local authorities will be well aware, commuted sums are not a quick fix; if they are to be explored in my view the developer should be coming up with a site on which they can be used.

And perhaps this points to the underlying challenge for local authorities; at a time when planning officers are so hard pressed do they have the time to negotiate such provisions in detail?

But time spent working out a locally costed pricing matrix would repay dividends; since it would illustrate whether a developer is being compensated for the cost of the home or whether the developer is looking for additional profit.

The financial pressures on registered providers have obviously created the Section 106 affordable housing crisis but those pressures have meant a re-evaluation of what Section 106 affordable housing is all about; and it is local authorities who hold the keys to unlocking the Section 106 affordable housing crisis; they should be enforcing the principle that developers should be compensated for the cost of affordable housing and nothing more.