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In 2007, the United Nations Genereral Assembly designated 15 Seotember as International Day of Democracy, with a view to promoting and upholding the principles of democracy..

Many of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 16 are geared towards protecting democratic institutions, in particular::

16.3 Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all
16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
16.10 Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements

We marked the UN International Day of Democracy with a webinar to discuss how to increase the supply of social housing in the UK. Although Democracy Day is on 15 September, which was a Sunday, we met on 20^th since we believed Monday would be more convenient for most people.

The right to housing is a fundamental democratic freedom and it is difficult to exercise the vote in many democracies, including the UK, without a permanent address. Secure, high quality housing improves health and wellbeing, boosts educational achievement and literally provides a stable foundation for people to reach their potential – including their potential as active citizens. Turnout in the 2024 General Election was the lowest since universal suffrage for men and women was introduced in 1929. Disengagement on this scale is a challenge to democracy and turnout among non-homeowners was particularly low. This may partly be because the housing debate in the UK tends to be driven by the hopes and fears of homeowners. The hopes and fears of homeless people and families on the lowest incomes get less attention. Social housing provided by local authorities and housing associations provides a lifeline for these groups, but it is a scarce resource, in desperately short supply. Too many households with severe housing needs languish on waiting lists for years, with no realistic prospect of affordable housing. The government has set a target to build 1.5m homes within the life of this Parliament. This is to be achieved through private investment, levered in by changes to the planning system which are intended to remove obstacles to development. Delivery will therefore depend on the conditions local planning authorities impose on developers. In this webinar we discussed the funding options for social housing and how we can help to ensure that the housing pipeline includes sufficient numbers of decent social homes in the areas where they are most urgently needed, designed to meet the requirements of local households.

Programme

The Deputy Mayor of Luton, Councillor Babatunde Ajisola, opened the programme by welcoming participants virtually to the super-diverse town of Luton.

Recordings of the presentations are below

Housing and democracy: Dr David Cheesman, Secretary of UNA Luton. As Head of Policy, Research and Statistics at the Housing Corporation, the government agency responsible until 2007 for funding and regulating housing associations in England, he commissioned and published over 200 research reports aimed at monitoring and challenging policy and practice in social housing. Currently Board Member (former Chair) of Squared Housing Association, Luton; former Visiting Professor of Society and Development, Sheffield Hallam University.

Increasing the supply of social housing: Professor Stewart Smyth of Cork University Business School has previously held posts at the University of Sheffield, University of Birmingham and Queen's University, Belfast. His research covers the policy and financing of public services, focusing on public/social housing; the use of public private partnerships to deliver public infrastructure; the use of accounting information by trade unions and social movements, and related conceptions of public accountability. He has published extensively on the financing and changing accountability relations in council housing stock transfers in Britain. He has also published a series of research reports on the future of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, for the NI-based trade union NIPSA.

Note following the webinar: The government has carried out a consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which closed on 24 September. We have submitted a response which included two issues in particular which arose during our discussion:

Planning system: The current planning system is a major obstacle to the delivery of social housing, as the government has recognised. We supported the introduction of an expectation that planning authorities should specify their requirements for social rent as part of affordable housing and the removal of the requirement for at least 10% of new homes to be affordable home ownership.

Empty homes: Too many potential homes are empty (especially in high streets) and redeveloping them is often cheaper than building new ones. We recommended that long-term vacancies should be included in local planning authorities' baseline assessment of housing stock and their local plans should include strategies for bringing vacant homes back into use.

United Nations International Day of Democracy - 15 September