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housing

Dudley calls on government to secure the future of council homes

Dudley Council has joined forces with 19 other local authorities across the country to call on the government to secure the future of council homes.

An interim report backed by 20 councils has been published this week and identifies five solutions for the new government to “secure the future of England’s council housing”.

The report reveals new analysis which claims council housing budgets face a £2.2 billion black hole by 2028 without urgent action.

Without the right longer term support and investment, the report says, councils will be unable to build new homes and have no option but to sell housing stock to fund maintenance on the rest of its portfolio.

The recommendations include an urgent one-off “rescue injection” payment, reform of the Right to Buy policies and urgent action to get stalled building projects moving again.

It comes as the leader of Dudley Council, Councillor Patrick Harley, added his signature to an open letter today (Fri) to the new Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

It calls for “urgent action” to “solve the housing crisis”.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said:

“We have joined forces with 19 of the biggest councils in the country to put our names to this interim report and open letter to the Deputy Prime Minister.

“The findings are stark and make it clear that without urgent support and funding from the government, the future of council housing is in danger.

“We want to regenerate stalled and derelict sites on brownfield land and build more homes for our residents.”

Contact Information

Dudley Council

pressoffice@dudley.gov.uk

Notes to editors

Notes to editors

Southwark Council invited all local authorities with around 19,000 council homes or more to jointly produce a report to be published in September.

These council landlords have come together in response to their urgent financial challenges and to set out the national policy changes needed to secure their future.

Toby Lloyd and Rose Grayston, from independent consultancy On Place, have authored the report which will be published in September. This interim summary sets out the councils’ joint recommendations to government.

England’s councils house around 3.5 million people in 1.6 million homes, including many vulnerable people who may have no other opportunity for a decent home. But more homes are needed and this lack of supply has created a huge drag on government finances, with private landlords set to receive £70bn of public money in housing benefits between 2021 and 2026 – more than six times the amount allotted by central government for affordable home building over the same time period.

The 20 local authority landlords jointly publishing this report are:

  1. Southwark Council
  2. Birmingham City Council
  3. Bristol City Council
  4. Camden Council
  5. Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
  6. Royal Borough of Greenwich
  7. Hull City Council
  8. Islington Council
  9. Hackney Council
  10. Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
  11. Lambeth Council
  12. Lewisham Council
  13. City of Wolverhampton Council
  14. Nottingham City Council
  15. Leicester City Council
  16. Newcastle City Council
  17. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
  18. Leeds City Council
  19. Sandwell Council
  20. Sheffield City Council