Proof could be needed over affordable homes

DEVELOPERS who claim they cannot pay for affordable housing as part of major Manchester schemes could be forced to publish the proof from this September in the face of growing public and political pressure.

The council is to rethink its approach to ‘viability assessments’ - the tool used by firms to argue they cannot afford to include cheaper homes - following warnings developers had been using them to wriggle out of their duties.

It follows similar approaches in parts of London and the south west.

Ultimately, the move is likely to mean that paperwork is published in future, according to a report that went before council bosses on Wednesday, although it suggests developers could still ask for certain parts of them to be redacted for commercial reasons.

The review follows a motion to the council in March prompted by growing concern over Manchester’s approach to developers.

In many cases - particularly in the city centre - firms have argued in recent years that to include affordable homes in their schemes would make them financially ‘unviable’ and therefore undeliverable.

But the background paperwork and methodology of those claims is never published, prompting March’s unanimously-passed backbench motion to warn they are being used by developers to ‘avoid their obligations to provide affordable housing.’

At the time council chiefs promised to report back after the May elections.

Their update reveals Manchester council could now join a growing list of councils across the country - primarily in places with particularly high housing demand - in adopting a tougher approach.

“There is a growing recognition of the need for greater consistency in the approach to viability and greater transparency in the process,” says the report, but notes that even in places that have brought in more transparency, developers can still apply to have certain sections of the information redacted for confidentiality reasons - albeit those redactions are treated as the exception rather than the rule.

It also says further work is needed to see whether or not those moves had deterred developers from investing.

The council notes government guidance has not to date been prescriptive where viability is concerned, meaning different authorities have taken different approaches over the years in assessing whether a developer can afford to include cheaper units or not.

“There is currently no standard or single approach to viability,” it says, adding that the council has always applied its own ‘robust’ scrutiny to the claims made by firms.