Is the private sector creating sustainable housing developments within Dissertation

Is the private sector creating sustainable housing developments within the UK - Dissertation Example Various methods are also employed to determine the needed approach for sustainability including Wackernagel and Rees’ (1996) ecological footprint which measures the given area’s sustainability with the total goods, services, energy and land which it consumes as appropriated against its carrying capacity. Two models have been proposed by Whitehead (2011) based on the priority: balanced and hierarchical. The balanced sustainability model proposes for an equal treatment and role of the ecological, social and economic forces whereas the hierarchical proposes a strong priority on ecological forces as followed by social and lastly economic (Appendix A & B). The issue on sustainability stemmed from the realisation that the natural environment is easily exploited for consumption benefits but great economic output does not always relate to possible restoration of the degraded ecosystem back to its original condition (Ayres, van den Bergh and Gowdy, 1998). When notable changes to the natural environment as well as the devastating effects of production and consumption from climate change to loss of biodiversity, and failure to meet basic human needs were realised, the debate on sustainability began. ... The good news was that UK was not alone in this lack of solid action with sustainability as other major post-industrial countries also exhibit failed initiatives (Hobson, 2004). Importance of the UK private housing industry: private/public accounts for ...percentage The UK Housing Social housing in the United Kingdom is characterised by private funding of housing associations mediated and guided by appropriate government agencies. It is further described by Oxley (1998) as facing many challenges including the low income of tenants relying mainly on state benefits; macroeconomic reasons led to reduced government support; continued pressure to reduce public spending on housing; substantial backlog of housing repair and maintenance work by council; and a high demand for more social housing (673). The most apparent view was that there were affordability and investment problems as the government encouraged private finance and not-for-profit organisations to become Registered Social Landlo rds. Local authority housing was transferred into owner-occupation and to housing associations or organisations wherein companies are formed from a local authority to newly created organisation which owns and manages housing at â€Å"arms length† from the local authority (674). In 1981, 28% of English housing stock was managed by local authorities but this has since decreased since 1988 when the government shifted role from housing providers to strategic enablers. By 1994, only 18% of the housing stock remained under local authority and council house building reduced to only one per cent by 1994. This was a result of the housing investment programmes or HIPs of the government. It reviews bids for the use of resources as well as permits borrowing