Is there a simpler and more user-friendly approach? A data-standardised case study.
Housing Needs Assessments, SHMAs, HNAs or whatever you wish to call them can be long, complicated documents with complex population data analyses making them difficult for people to understand.
It’s not always easy to see the link between the standard method for local housing need and assessing the needs of different community groups furthermore it’s no easy task translating complex data into policy development for what mix, type and tenure of housing is needed.
This case study examines the relationship between standard method for local housing need (LHN) and the need to identify housing needs for specific community groups, including students, as well as exploring the possibilities of data standardisation and de-mystifying population data. You can learn all about the case study by watching the Show and Tell event.
Canterbury City Council working with Edge Analytics used a data driven approach to their Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) to unpack their housing need for different community groups and then use that to inform housing policy development in their Local Plan Review. You can read the final report here.
PAS worked closely as a critical friend to the HNA’s data approach and produced a review of the report.
The case study needed to look at the impact student population data had on the assessment of future student accommodation needs. University towns can add an interesting dynamic to population data and migration trends, and that was certainly the case here. In an effort to learn best practice PAS have produced a short piece of research on how local authorities have previously approached assessing student needs.