Today, at an event held in Westminster, an unprecedented cross-party coalition of over 100 council landlords, including Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District councils, will jointly publish five solutions for the government to ‘secure the future of England’s Council housing’.
The report, led by Southwark Council, warns that England’s council housing system is broken, and that urgent action is needed for the government to deliver its housing promises.
In July, 20 of the largest council landlords published an interim summary of their recommendations. Significant traction – including an urgent meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister – has led to over 80 more councils backing their recommendations and signing the final report.
This more detailed report, with contributions from Toby Lloyd and Rose Grayston, sets out a full roadmap to renew our country’s council housing over the next decade and critical policy changes for the realisation of the new government’s social housing ambitions.
It explains how an unsustainable financial model and erratic national policy changes have squeezed councils’ housing budgets and sent costs soaring. New analysis from Savills shows they will face a £2.2bn ‘black hole’ by 2028.
Many councils across the country are warning that they will struggle to finance work to maintain and improve existing council homes, let alone build new homes for social rent. Across the country, development projects are being cancelled and delayed, with huge implications for the construction sector, jobs and housing market in those areas.
Rather than increasing supply, the reality is that some councils will have no option but to sell more of their existing stock to finance investment in an ever-shrinking portfolio of council homes.
The recommendations include urgent action to restore lost income and unlock local authority capacity to work with the new government to deliver its promises for new, affordable homes throughout the country.
The five solutions set out detailed and practical recommendations to the new Government:
- A new fair and sustainable HRA model – including an urgent £644 million one-off rescue injection, and long-term, certain rent and debt agreements
- Reforms to unsustainable Right to Buy policies
- Removing red tape on existing funding
- A new, long-term Green and Decent Homes Programme
- Urgent action to restart stalled building projects, avoiding the loss of construction sector capacity and a market downturn
They make up a plan for a ‘decade of renewal’, with local authorities and central government working together to get ‘Housing Revenue Accounts’ (HRAs) back on stable foundations, bring all homes up to modern and green standards, and deliver the next generation of council homes.
Cambridge City Council has an existing stock of 7,660 council homes. 654 of these have been built as part of the council’s new build housing programme since 2018. Many of these new homes have been built through the council’s innovative house-building partnership with housebuilder Hill – Cambridge Investment Partnership. Alongside this, the council is working to bring existing council homes up to EPC ‘C’ by 2035.
With government assistance, the council could deliver an additional 1,100 council homes within a decade and further improve the council’s existing stock by moving towards net zero – improving energy efficiency and comfort for tenants in existing council homes, which also helps to bring down tenants’ energy bills.
Cllr Gerri Bird, Cambridge City Council’s Executive Cllr for Housing, said: “Our vision for Cambridge is a place where everyone has a warm, safe, and affordable home, and we are doing everything we can to make that vision a reality. We are making good progress – we built the second highest number of council homes in the country last year – but it is getting increasingly difficult to afford as we look ahead to where we can deliver more of these new, high quality council homes. Costs continue to increase and funding continues to decrease. We fully support the government’s ambition for a new generation of council homes and want to play our part – but like councils across the country, we need government to help us help them achieve this shared ambition.”
South Cambridgeshire District Council owns and maintains around 5,700 council homes – and building more is a key part of its priority to bring forward more affordable housing locally. During the previous financial year, the District Council delivered almost 110 new homes of a range of tenures in communities including Northstowe, Sawston, Cambourne, and Waterbeach. Surveys on existing properties have also been completed to inform retrofit plans for the next five, 10 and 15 years. Over the next two years, the District Council plans to build around 210 further properties in areas including Over, Northstowe, Waterbeach, and Fulbourn.
South Cambridgeshire District Council's Lead Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr John Batchelor, said: "Bringing forward more homes that are affordable for people to live in has been our focus for many years – and council homes are a crucial part of that. They are much more than just bricks and mortar – they need to be high-quality and energy-efficient, in places where people feel safe, and communities thrive. That's why it is so important that the right funding is in place to allow councils up and down the country to continue being able to provide them. We're pleased to support this report and really hope it helps to secure the future of council housing nationally."
Cllr Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council, said: “This unprecedented coalition of councils – representing every corner of England – is united in our determination to ensure our residents have decent and affordable homes. For families across our country their council home is a foundation – giving them the security needed to put down roots and flourish.
“Our new government has committed to delivering the biggest increase to affordable and social housing in a generation. The Deputy Prime Minister’s recent announcements demonstrate that they know the critical role councils will play in reaching this ambition. However, the reality is that our national council housing finances are on the brink.
“Our five solutions offer the new government an opportunity to turn this around – lifting the council homes we have up to modern, safe, healthy and green standards, and delivering the thousands more council homes that our country urgently needs. By investing in them together, we can transform lives for the better for generations to come.”
