A Good Place for Children? Attracting and retaining families in inner urban mixed income communities Emily Silverman, Ruth Lupton, Alex Fenton

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This important report presents a challenging mix of debate and findings about how mixed income new communities (MINCs) are working for families. This has a number of implications for Government, local authorities and RSLs, housebuilders and the providers of local public services.

In particular, it poses policy and practice questions regarding:

• The mix of housing types needed to ensure that families can be attracted to - and then retained in - MINCs.
• The costs of achieving income mix.
• The importance of an attractive and safe physical environment and social infrastructure of schools, community facilities and services.
• How can social mixing be achieved?

The research team focused on four MINCs, where an income and social mix of market-rate families together with families living in affordable housing was part of the vision for a sustainable community.

• Two of them, Hulme in Manchester and New Gorbals in Glasgow, remodelled existing social housing areas.
• The other two, Greenwich Millennium Village and Britannia Village in London were wholly new, and built on brownfield sites.

There is currently great enthusiasm for planning for income mix in new housing developments in order to achieve more sustainable communities.

Key messages from the report include:

• MINCs lack affordable and/or well-designed family-sized homes.
• MINCs could be made to work better for family households and, in so doing, could have a valuable part to play in the revitalisation of Britain's inner cities.
• Place-making rather than housebuilding needs to be part of the vision.

ISBN: 1-905018-11-8  Order no: 236   Published: February 2006

Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introduction
   • Mixed income new communities (MINCs)
   • Reasons for the increasing prevalence of MINCs
   • MINCs and the urban renaissance
   • Why families matter for MINCs
   • Investigating families in MINCs
2. MINCs in existing low income areas: Hulme and the New Gorbals
   • The areas
   • The new homes
   • The new mixed income populations
   • The success of the MINCs
   • The views and plans of market-rate families
   • Summary
3. New MINCs: Britannia Village and Greenwich Millennium Village
   • The areas
   • The new homes
   • The new mixed income populations
   • The success of the MINCs
   • The views and plans of market-rate families
   • Summary
4. The supply of family homes in MINCs
   • The provision of family homes
   • Constraints on the supply of family homes
   • Summary
5. Designing and managing MINCs
   • Schools
   • Safe, clean and friendly neighbourhoods
   • Summary
6. Conclusions and implications
   • Attracting and retaining market-rate families in MINCS
   • Design, services and ongoing management
   • Provision of homes for families
   • Mixed income policy
   • Conclusion