SUSTAINABLE HOUSING – PART OF A HEALTHY AND ATTRACTIVE COMMUNITY Vida Maliene School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, UK v.maliene@ljmu.ac.uk Naglis Malys MCISB, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, UK n.malys@manchester.ac.uk ABSTRACT United Kingdom cities have been subject to severe social and economic pressures over the past few decades, which have had an uneven spatial impact on the urban environment and have given a rise to the concentration of the most deprived households in the worst urban neighbourhoods. The current government objective can be interpreted as an attempt to implement regeneration projects or create sustainable communities to improve quality of life. Housing is a key issue to consider in delivering healthy and attractive communities. Sustainable housing should be well available, high-quality, economical, ecological, aesthetical design, comfortable and cosy one, which would better suit the needs of a person. Furthermore, dwelling houses, apartments or, in other words, housing premises, must be set out according to the conditions of that locality and must meet the established technical and hygienic requirements. The paper focuses on sustainable housing issue in the UK and a sustainable housing development model for communities is proposed. KEYWORDS: sustainable housing, development model, sustainable communities, urban regeneration. INTRODUCTION Housing is an element of the community’s dwelling area with its own social and spatial environment, in which exist many different forms of houses, different architectural styles and designs. A house or an apartment is usually the largest purchase that a person makes throughout his/her entire life. It satisfies one of the major personal needs, thus influences quality of life and can be considered linked with the guarantee of human rights. With changes in political and economic environment in the UK, the problem of housing has become very relevant. Population growth and real disposable incomes increase created a shortage of housing in the UK. Increased demand of housing played an important role in increase of house prices. During last seven years the house prices have doubled or more than doubled and became less affordable for wider society. There is a constant Government regulated supply of new dwelling through private enterprise in urban areas. However, even the new homes are being built continuously, they are small and poor quality by EU standards. For example, average floor area of new dwellings in England is second smallest in EU after Italy (European housing review, 2007). Today the housing situation is a diverse one, the dual understanding and changing approach exists for the time being. A home should be chosen and changed “as many times as needed” having in minds the needs and opportunities. Available job, income, assets and education all characterise both the social status of the family and, consequently, the housing situation. In many cases, families having many children, as well as persons belonging to the lower social CIB W070 Conference in Facilities Management, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2008 Page 343