presentation to housing studies association conference 8 -10 april 2015 “when is building ‘for...

Presentation to Housing Studies Association Conference 8 -10 April 2015

“When is building ‘for our children’ not ‘for our children’ : a short critique of the Lyons Housing Review”

Dr Martin Field, Collaborative Centre for the Built Environment, University of Northampton [email protected]

A critique of the Lyons Housing Review

• The context of the Lyons Review

• How to consider ‘homes for children’?

• Does the Review look at ‘what it says on the tin’?

• Concluding implications

Contents of presentation : deconstructing ‘intent’ and ‘outcome’

HSA conference 8 -10 April 2015


Context : widespread concern for cost and pace of contemporary housing supply, and interest in alternatives / innovative ideas

Purpose : to inform Labour Party policy, and assist in determining the focus of the next Government’s action

: to “change this country for the better by building the homes that our children need” Sir M Lyons, Introduction

Content : 179 pages; nine chapters; ‘Roadmap’; 235 references; thirty-nine recommendations; submissions; meetings; Round Tables; implications

“Mobilising across the nation to build the homes our children need”



• Personal and private space - ? Space and storage standards? Bedrooms? External environment

• Housing design - ? Type ? Location? Densities

• Family and household security - ? Tenure? Costs

• Space & place for relationships - ? General facilities to play ? Open & green spaces? Multi-generational provisions

How to conceive of ‘homes for children’? (macro and micro scales)



Lyons makes four mentions of ‘children’ in Preface / seven in the main Report

Contexts : ‘providing homes’; ‘damage done to younger generations’; ‘% in rented sector’; ‘downsizing ‘once children have left’; ‘providing childrens services’ One reference to “building homes that our children will want to live in” (p.119)

Any mention of ‘Play’? : Five references (four about ‘roles’, one as ‘player’)

Any mention of ‘Learning’? : Three references (‘from experience’)

Any mention of ‘Spaces’? : One reference + Recommendation (‘standards’)

Any mention of ‘Families’? : Eleven references (‘young’, ‘middle income’)

What is said about ‘children’ in the Lyons Review?



No reference to how to gain first-hand input from children / young people

No reference to substantial multi-disciplinary research in this area

No use of reports (e.g. Shelter) on children’s contemporary family lives

No recommendations for children or young peoples’ provisions

What is not said about ‘homes for children’ in the Lyons review?



• A clear look at ‘building homes’ and promoting more of them……

• Definitely a ‘national’ set of considerations – planning, land, finance, etc.

• Little about ‘children’ or the impacts of housing on children’s daily lives

• Nothing about how to change ‘supply’ to improve children’s experiences

• Nothing to detail children’s regard for what ‘they need’

So does the Review look at ‘what it says on the tin’?



• A critique about ‘Lyons’ has to be appropriation but no substance

• A prompt to consider how the Report’s might be inclusive or not

• No role model for addressing the ‘needs’ of a group in focus

• Its strengths may lie in its range of ideas – its weakness is its insincere approach to the subject of its own title, and to the next generations….

• Open to the charge of sentimental manipulation

How should the Lyons Review be assessed here?


So ‘a short critique’ of the Lyons Review :

• Remember to exercise caution in the etiquette of report-writing

• Understand the daily ‘needs’ of children and future generations

• Make use of children and young peoples’ documented experiences

• Focus the political commitment to re-shape housing supply

• ‘Intent’ is not an automatic safeguard of reporting integrity…….

Implications for policy and policy reports


C Freeman (1995), Planning and Play: Creating Greener Environments‘Children's Environments’ Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 381-388

P Breysse, N Farr, W Galke, B Lanphear, R Morley & L Bergofsky (2004), The Relationship between Housing and Health: Children at Risk, ‘Environmental Health Perspectives’ Vol. 112, No. 15, pp. 1583-1588

A M Dockery, G Kendall, J Li, A Mahendran, R Ong & L Strazdins (2010), Housing and children’s development and wellbeing: a scoping study, Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute, Final Report No.149

Shelter (2011) Improving outcomes for children and young people in housing need : a benchmarking guide for joint working between services

Centre for Children & Youth (2013) New Urbanisms, New Citizens: children and young people's everyday life and participation in 'Sustainable Communities‘, University of Northampton / University of Warwick

Indicative Background References


A critique of the Lyons Housing ReviewSubmitted AbstractThe national debate on the quality and breadth of new housing supply was significantly informed last year by the different ideas and proposals contained in Sir Michael Lyons’ Housing Review for the Labour Party – proposals which it is understood will in turn shape the party’s 2015 election manifesto. While much of the reaction to the Review has reflected pre-existing positions from housing sector commentators and insiders, there has been a significant welcome of the manner in which the Review sought to consider issues comprehensively rather than by a piecemeal approach…. What has received less attention is a regard for whether the Review will deliver ‘what it says on the tin’? : namely “to build homes our children need”. This short paper examines the Review to see what it understands to be the likely current and future needs of children, and to reflect on what specific ‘housing’ responses it has proposed. Some serious questions are raised on the disparity between the Review’s title and its actual content, so a framework is therefore suggested for how such ‘needs’ can be considered holistically, and within which a sufficient understanding of what different generations require from housing provision could be located.


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presentation to housing studies association conference 8 -10 april 2015 “when is building ‘for...

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