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LGA chair calls for new housing deals to spark council housebuilding ‘step change’
Local authorities should be handed new housing deals to spark a “generational step change” in council housebuilding, the outgoing chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.
On his penultimate day as chair of the association, James Jamieson has announced a six-point plan that he said could support local authorities to build 100 more council homes each per year.
One of his recommendations is for five-year local housing deals to be given to all areas of England that want them, by 2025. These deals would combine funding from multiple existing national housing programmes into a single pot to increase flexibility and certainty, Mr Jamieson said.
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He also called for further reform to the Right to Buy, to allow councils to retain 100% of receipts on a permanent basis to recycle more of these earnings into building replacement homes.
In April, it was reported that the government would allow councils to keep 100% of funds from Right to Buy sales for two years.
Additionally, Mr Jamieson proposed a review of the grant levels provided through Homes England’s Affordable Homes Programme following “inflationary pressures”; a minimum 10-year rent deal for council landlords, to allow a longer period of annual rent increases; and a national council housebuilding task force to be set up to help councils and their partners.
He said: “Housing is too often unavailable, unaffordable and not appropriate for everyone that needs it. The right homes in the right areas can have significant wider benefits for people and communities and prevent future public service challenges and costs.
“Addressing the chronic housing shortage must be a national priority. Our six-point plan would lead to a generational step change in council housebuilding and give local government the powers and funding to deliver thousands of affordable homes a year – at scale and fast.
“A genuine renaissance in council housebuilding would unlock local government’s historic role as a major builder of affordable homes, which supports strong and healthy communities and helps to build prosperous places.”
Mr Jamieson’s four-year term as LGA chair ends at the start of the association’s annual conference in Bournemouth on 4 July.
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "Councils are critical partners in delivering the new homes that the country needs.
“We have already introduced measures to ensure councils are empowered to deliver homes in their areas, for example through allowing them to retain 100% of their Right to Buy receipts in 2022/23 and 2023/24.
“We are investing in the capacity and capability of local planning authorities, most recently announcing funding for the graduate planner scheme to be run by the Local Government Association on the department’s behalf and progressing fee increases for planning applications.”
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