The Sussex And The City Podcast

– Episode #64

What Would A Sussex Housebuilding Revolution Actually Take?

Host: Richard Freeman Guest: Donna Cezair – Chief Executive, Worthing Homes

🔍 Episode summary

Sussex has a housing crisis. That is easy to agree on.

Thousands of households are waiting for social housing, living in temporary accommodation or trying to survive in a private housing market that has become unaffordable to people on perfectly ordinary incomes. At the same time, Sussex is under pressure to build substantially more homes while protecting some of the most valuable landscapes in the country.

The difficult bit starts when you ask how.

Who actually builds social housing? What is a housing association? Where does its money come from? Why is “affordable rent” sometimes 80% of the market rate? Why did councils transfer thousands of homes to housing associations? And if the need is so obvious, why can’t we simply build a great many more?

Donna Cezair has spent nearly 40 years working in social housing and is now Chief Executive of Worthing Homes, which owns around 4,000 properties and serves approximately 10,000 customers.

Her starting point is that a good home is the cornerstone of a healthy and productive life.

But housing doesn’t exist in isolation.

Building another estate on the edge of a town achieves rather less if residents can’t reach jobs, there aren’t enough schools or GPs, public transport is poor and the neighbourhood itself has no real sense of place.

So what for devolution?

The emerging Sussex and Brighton Strategic Authority will increasingly think across housing, transport, infrastructure, skills and economic growth at a scale Sussex has rarely used before. Eventually, a mayor will operate within that system too.

Donna sees an opportunity for housing to stop being treated as a separate policy silo and instead become part of the county’s essential infrastructure – connected to employment, health, education, transport, public space and community.

But before that can happen, the social housing sector itself may need to get more organised.

Donna estimates that more than 70 social housing providers operate across Sussex, ranging from major national housing associations to tiny specialist providers. Her previous experience in Greater Manchester showed her what can happen when those organisations speak collectively, work strategically with a mayor and make a clear proposition about what they can deliver.

Sussex hasn’t traditionally done that.

So Donna is beginning to bring providers together – not simply to ask a future mayor for money, but to make an offer: land, development expertise, investment, community relationships and the ability to turn strategic plans into actual homes.

And this isn’t merely a question of finding enough planning sites.

A major housebuilding programme will need construction workers, surveyors, materials, investment and infrastructure. Donna describes long-standing shortages in construction skills and difficulties recruiting professionals such as quantity surveyors and building surveyors. Major projects such as Gatwick’s expansion could create further competition for labour and materials.

Then there is public consent.

People may recognise that Sussex desperately needs housing while simultaneously worrying about what new development will do to the place where they live. Donna’s response is not that those concerns should be brushed aside. Housing associations need to use brownfield land, regeneration opportunities and infill intelligently – and development itself needs to produce places people genuinely want to live in.

Because this conversation ultimately isn’t about hitting a housing number.

It is about whether Sussex can use devolution to start answering a much more useful question:

Where do we want people to live – and what else needs to exist around them for those places to work?

—

This episode is brought to you by Be Business Energy Wise, a fully funded programme helping East Sussex businesses understand and reduce their energy costs while making more informed sustainability decisions.

Businesses can access free practical one-to-one support, detailed on-site energy assessments where eligible, and workshops covering subjects including energy efficiency, sustainability marketing and reducing waste through the circular economy. You don’t need an existing sustainability strategy or specialist knowledge – the programme is designed to help businesses in East Sussex to understand where they are now, where energy may be being wasted and which actions are genuinely worth taking next.

Be Business Energy Wise is funded by the Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority and East Sussex County Council, managed by East Sussex County Council and delivered by Always Possible. Find out more at www.alwayspossible.co.uk/be-business-energy-wise.

🎯 In this episode

• Why Donna has spent nearly 40 years working in social housing
• What a housing association actually is
• The difference between social rent and “affordable” rent
• How housing associations finance new homes
• What Section 106 agreements contribute to social housing
• Why Worthing Borough Council transferred its housing stock in 1999
• How Worthing Homes became a 4,000-home community-based landlord
• Why there are more than 70 social housing providers across Sussex
• What Sussex can learn from Greater Manchester’s housing providers
• Why the sector needs a stronger collective voice
• Whether councils or housing associations should lead new social housebuilding
• The scale of homelessness and housing waiting lists in Sussex
• Misconceptions about who can access social housing
• Why low turnover means existing stock can never meet current demand
• Brownfield sites, infill and finding development land in Sussex
• Shortages of construction workers and professional skills
• The effect major infrastructure projects could have on building materials
• Why housing needs to be planned alongside transport, jobs, schools and healthcare
• What housing associations mean when they call themselves “place shapers”
• How housing can support health, employment and local economies
• Why collaboration could make public investment go further
• What a future Sussex Housing Alliance might offer a mayor

🏠 So what actually is a housing association?

Housing associations are independent, not-for-dividend organisations providing homes at below-market costs.

They are governed by boards and raise much of their finance privately rather than borrowing directly through government.

New affordable housing can be supported through grants from Homes England or through planning requirements such as Section 106 agreements, under which private developments provide a proportion of affordable housing.

Housing associations then offer different forms of tenure.

Social rent

Typically significantly below market rent – Donna describes it as around 60% of the local market rate.

Affordable rent

Despite the slightly awkward name, this can be up to around 80% of market rent.

Shared ownership

Residents purchase part of a home and pay rent on the remainder, offering another route for households unable to buy outright.

Worthing Homes itself was created through a large-scale voluntary transfer in 1999, when tenants voted for Worthing Borough Council’s housing to transfer to the new housing association.

A major reason councils transferred homes in this way was finance: housing associations could access private investment and raise money to improve existing stock and build more homes.

👤 About Donna Cezair

Donna Cezair is Chief Executive of Worthing Homes and has worked in social housing for nearly four decades.

She began her housing career in 1987 and moved into her first executive role six years later. Since then, she has worked with housing associations, local authorities and national organisations across the UK.

Before joining Worthing Homes in January 2023, Donna was Chief Executive of First Choice Homes in Oldham, giving her direct experience of operating within the Greater Manchester devolved system and the collective approach developed by housing providers there.

At Worthing Homes she leads a community-based housing association responsible for approximately 4,000 homes and 10,000 customers.

Donna is also Chair of the Board of ForHousing.

🎧 Production credits

Host: Richard Freeman Guest: Donna Cezair Sound design, editing and original music: Chris Thorpe-Tracey Production management: Letitia McConalogue

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