Solving Bristol’s housing crisis

Vast post-war tower blocks pierce Bristol’s skyline, looming over streets where record numbers of homeless people huddle in the cold.

This is a city in the grip of a housing crisis, with escalating prices, stagnating wages and growing demand serving to exacerbate existing inequalities.

Mayor Marvin Rees famously swept to victory against this backdrop with the promise to deliver 2,000 new homes by 2020 – and the council remains confident of exceeding this.

Yet, as shiny new developments spring up around the city centre with no, or pitifully few, affordable homes, more drastic action is needed, giving rise to a resurgence in social housing and innovative schemes to provide for those in need.

Steve Pearce grew up in social housing in Horfield and now works for UCH

United Housing Association (now merged with Bristol Community Housing Foundation to form United Communities housing association (UC)) was formed in 1986 with the prime objective of providing good quality housing and services for the black and minority ethnic (BME) community in Bristol.

Its remit has since expanded to providing accommodation to anyone in housing need, as demand continues to far outstrip supply.

“It could have been anywhere, I just desperately needed a roof over my head,” says Matthew Brown (not pictured) who spent four months living homeless on the streets of Bristol before finally getting his flat on Lower Ashley Road.

“For the first week of living there I had no furniture – I was sleeping on the floor with my rucksack as a pillow.

“I found myself being made homeless because I had to leave the property I was in before when the landlord was evicted for not paying.”

Matthew suffers from mental health issues and says he was getting employment and support allowance, but Government changes meant that was take away from him.

Despite his struggles, he says UC has provided him with a safe place to live and he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

The numbers of people forced to sleep on the streets in Bristol is on the rise

For every person helped back on their feet, hundreds still slip through the net, with one in 170 Bristol residents classed as homeless, according to a recent report by housing charity Shelter.

Oona Goldsworthy is the CEO of UC and is passionate about the need to change the way housing is delivered in the city.

“I grew up here, but went away and worked in London. I could see the mess that had been made of the city. The council estates were truly awful places – they had not had any investment, were not well designed and not good places to live.

“I started out in social housing because I wanted the opportunity to do something a bit different.”

Goldsworthy moved back to Bristol 20 years ago and says that she has seen places transform from rundown council estates to thriving mixed communities.

“We always try to involve the community in shaping developments,” she continues. “Of course, there is not one voice, people have different views and the physical appearance of a place is a very personal thing.

“Bristol is a very diverse city, but it’s still BME communities who suffer the worse inequalities.

“UCH was set up to address housing opportunities for young black men and I would like to say that has changed, but it hasn’t really.”

One of the UC developments in Lockleaze – an area due to have a multi-million pound regeneration

Goldsworthy is working with the University of Bristol and 1625 Independent People, a charity that provides support for young people facing homelessness, to explore new ways of delivering ‘affordable homes for generation rent’.

“I have been working with City Office (set up by Rees) because it’s about accepting that the council cannot do it on its own, so we need to attract other experts across the city,” she says.

Inspired by a community in Amsterdam – where students and refugees are housed side by side, enabling each group to learn and benefit from the others’ skills – UC is looking at creating housing for especially for students and other young people to live alongside each other in Bristol.

“It’s giving students a much wider experience of life and giving and people who are not going to university access to benefits that students get,” explains Goldsworthy. “It’s about breaking down obstacles.”

UC tenant Loretta Charles says she likes the peace and quiet of where she lives as she works nights at a care home.

A ‘Home Truths’ report published by the National Housing Federation this month highlighted the extent of the housing crisis in the region, where the average house price costs more than 10 times the average income.

But it did not bring all bad news.

Housing associations built more than 4,200 homes in the region across 2016-2017, and started a further 4,100. In Bristol, housing associations are working with the council to provide land and grants for affordable and social housing, while recent changes in Government policy will help them deliver more.

“We are on the verge of a resurgence in council housing,” says Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for housing, Paul Smith.

Paul Smith says we are looking at the most dramatic change since the 1980s in the way homes are delivered

The council is currently limited by the Government on how much it can borrow to build homes, but Smith reveals that plans are afoot to set up a dedicated company free to borrow revenue for new developments.

The proposal will go before cabinet in May and could see thousands more council homes built in Bristol – a quantity not seen for decades.

“We are looking at the most dramatic change since the 1980s in the way we are trying to do things. We are trying to give communities control over the housing being built. We want to build mixed communities.

“What we do not want is to solve one element of the housing crisis, but create a different social issue with ghettos and gated communities of wealth.

“We are currently on track to have built about 3,500 new homes by 2020.”

Unable to rely on the council alone to solve the city’s housing crisis, pioneering groups are setting out to change things for themselves.

Rachel Clarke and Melissa Mean of Knowle West Media Centre and Craig White, the team behind the first ‘We Can Make’ home in Knowle West

From shipping containers in Bedminster, to straw bale homes in Knowle West and plans for another Bristol Community Land Trust (BCLT) development in Lockleaze, Bristol is gaining a reputation for its alternative housing solutions.

The official opening of the first Bristol Community Land Trust development in Fishponds

Tom Beale has been involved with a number of community-led housing projects.

“Two to three years ago, we built straw bale housing in St Bernard’s Road, Shirehampton and made national headlines,” he says.

“Over the last year, I have been working with Ecomotive and focussing on how we can support communities to build the homes they want for themselves.

“Community Land Trusts provide housing that’s really high standard and eco-friendly.”

Tom Beale says community-build projects ensure long-term solutions to the housing crisis

While those that come to fruition tend to be hugely successful, Beale admits that a community-led development is not easy option and does tend to be a long, slow process that is unlikely to single-handedly solve the housing crisis.

He continues: “My fear is that just mass producing affordable housing risks stacking up problems for future generations, whereas with community-led developments, we are solving the housing crisis on a long-term basis.

“The prospect of having lots of community-led housing over the next 30 years is enormously exciting.”

A resident returns to her home in Beechen Drive, which features a plaque marking the building of the estate in 1919

Rows of neat, red-brick terraced houses line Beechen Drive in Speedwell. It is the first council estate to be built in Bristol under the National Housing Scheme almost 100 years ago.

Doreen Mockridge has lived on Beechen Drive for more than 50 years

Doreen Mockridge was 38 when she first moved to her home on the street. Now, at the age of 90, she reflects on changes to the estate over the last five decades.

“The street itself has not altered much in the time I’ve been here,” she says. “Years ago, lots of children used to go and play up at the ‘Rec’ but they go less now.

“I don’t know many people by name – not now. They talk to you, but it’s not as friendly as it used to be years ago. It was a real community then.

“You don’t really get trouble here though and my three girls look after me – I shall certainly be here for as long as I can.”

Tony Criddle of Beechen Drive says he wouldn’t live anywhere else

Tony Criddle has lived on Beechen Drive for 28 years and agrees not a lot has really changed.

“I love it here,” he says. “In the summer months, I don’t leave my house except to go to work – I spend all my time in the garden.

“My kids used to go and play outside over the ‘Rec’. The only thing they could do with here is a bit more for the teenagers to keep them occupied, they have shut youth clubs down so they have got nowhere to go.

“I can sometimes have half a dozen kids out in my back yard repairing their bikes. Everybody watches out for everybody else here. When I leave, it will be in a box.”

What is social housing?

A key function of social housing is to provide accommodation that is affordable to people on low incomes and allocated on a needs basis. It is usually provided by councils or not-for-profit housing associations.

Community-led schemes are a way for communities to design and develop their own affordable homes to meet housing need. 

Read more: 800 new Lockleaze homes to address ‘critical need’