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Alliance research has been used by the UK and Scottish governments to direct more of the £10bn p.a. public investment in affordable and social housing towards higher demand growth regions. It has produced a range of affordability-based housing needs models which have been commended as exemplars of good practice guidance for local authorities and adopted by industry consultancies. One tool, used to assess policy options in the context of HM Treasury's 2010 Spending Review, has been described by the Department for Communities and Local Government as "invaluable" and stimulated the development of an equivalent model for New Zealand, influencing investment by the state housing agency, Housing New Zealand, in assets worth $15bn. The research has also led to the cost-effective targeting of low cost and shared home ownership programmes and stronger use of planning powers to deliver affordable housing across the UK and Ireland.
University of Glasgow research advanced a new conceptual and practical approach to housing systems analysis used by local authorities across the breadth of the UK. The research was instrumental in the drafting of new legislation which required all local authorities to produce evidence-based housing strategies founded upon the approach developed through the Glasgow research. As well as forming the basis of Good Practice Guides used by housing professionals and practitioners, the research underpinned extensive training programmes for housing planners and policy-makers in all 4 countries of the UK.
In 1996 Byatt-Smith, Lacey and Parker (all Maxwell Institute, MI) and co-workers developed a mathematical model of housing allocation to examine the impact of housing policies on homelessness in England and Wales. The model was subsequently adapted to the Scottish context by Lacey and Waugh (MI). Since 2008, it has been used by the Scottish Government to help inform its housing policy, enabling it to target development funding for new build to areas of greatest homelessness need and meet its 2012 homelessness commitment. The model has provided quantitative underpinning for major policy changes enacted in Scotland during the period from 2008: the right to buy public-sector housing has been limited, and regions where private rented sector housing has the potential to provide housing for homeless households have been identified. This has resulted in a marked increase of public-sector house builds between 2005/06 (6 starts) and 2009/10 (538 starts). The research informed the allocation of £644M in 2009/10 contributing to a 14% reduction in homelessness in Scotland between 2008/09 and 2012/13.
The practice-based research outputs contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the area of low-energy affordable housing which was evidenced through design outputs, case studies government publications.
The work has been undertaken in response to governmental concerns regarding the future provision at a national level of an energy efficient, affordable, good quality housing stock. Accordingly, the underpinning approach has been widely disseminated to government departments, public and private housing organisations. The design concepts and principles have been adopted by housing providers, and have become a point of reference for those working within the field of low-energy sustainable housing design.
Oxford research on consumption, credit and housing has played a central role in guiding the policy advice provided to UK government departments, planners and regional bodies on housing affordability and housing provision and on policies to support homeowners. The research has provided policymakers worldwide with important insights into the key role of credit and housing markets in the recent global financial crisis and the lessons for central bank modelling and the design of monetary policy.
Working both individually and in collaboration with other researchers, Dr Helen Carr has produced a highly significant and original body of work dealing with questions of housing tenure. This work has provided a direct inspiration for substantial reform of Welsh housing legislation, indelibly colouring current public and political debates in this area, and is recognised by Welsh policy-makers as having had `significant impact' in the reform process, a process in which Carr remains closely and directly involved. With the legislation now in draft form, the research has substantially shaped the agenda of the Welsh Assembly, providing inspiration, intellectual underpinning, a legal framework and the evidential basis for proposals which are now at an advanced stage of development. The research will impact directly on the lives of approximately half a million people who are tenants or landlords, as well as the extensive work in this area of all Welsh councils and housing associations.
Research at Aberystwyth has enhanced the capacity of forecasters to calibrate the scale of the impact on consumer spending of movements in house prices. Specifically research has provided improvements in the methodology used for estimating the impact of housing market shocks on consumer spending .This has impacted upon policy debates, including those in Central Banks, and informed methods of forecasting the impact of house prices on household economic behaviour. Thus a clearer understanding of an important macro-economic transmission mechanism has been provided. The research has also helped implementation of policy by assisting forecasters to calibrate the scale of the impact on consumer spending growth of movements in house prices, in particular taking into account the importance of controlling for expectations, and the distinction between behaviour in response to unanticipated versus anticipated housing market fluctuations.
Research by Professor Darren Smith into Housing in Multiple Occupation (HMO) improved knowledge of the effects of students in university towns in the UK and North America. His research led to revised national planning/housing legislation to integrate students into university towns and provide student housing in more strategic ways. Ministers for Communities and Local Government and Housing used his evidence when revising Use Classes. National consultation documents and government-commissioned evidence-gathering reports on HMO emphasise the importance of his research. His work led to Local Authority Student Housing Strategies and University Student Accommodation Strategies, best-practice guides for student-community relations by National Union of Students (NUS)/private sector, and inclusion of student housing in Regional/Local Housing Strategies and Housing Market Impact Assessments.
The new research reported on in this case study on the determinants of household indebtedness and dynamics of household finances has informed government policy decisions, aided monetary policymakers and benefited the third sector. Work on measurement and analysis of over- indebtedness was used by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to create new criteria for `over-indebtedness', monitor its development over time and model the Financial Services Authority (FSA) funding levy for free-to-client money advice services. Insights on how house prices affect consumption influenced the Bank of England in revising its understanding of the `collateral channel' of house price movements in its Quarterly Model. Through serving as an expert witness to a House of Commons Select Committee Inquiry into `Debt Management' the researchers challenged existing policy measures prompting policy response. The authors also disseminated research findings through a series of non-technical reports and applied projects which have been used to inform indebtedness policy by a broad constituency of free-to-client money advice providers.