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Publication type: General
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Contents
A report from the Housing Committee called for measures – including lifting caps on council borrowing – to allow London councils the opportunity to build housing suitable for low-income families.
Right to Build: What’s Stopping Councils from Building more Housing? – sets out strong recommendations to support London boroughs who wish to increase their stock of council housing as rising ‘affordable rents’ become out of reach of their social tenants.
Nearly 1 in 8 households in London live in a council home, nearly double the proportion of other parts of England, and demand is growing with over 380,000 households currently on a local authority waiting list.
The report warns that despite councils having a good record of sustainable borrowing, the current caps on borrowing imposed by the Treasury – to limit national debt – means London boroughs are torn between their need to invest in improving current housing standards and building housing suitable for low-income households. New research conducted for the report shows most London councils would like to see the caps being lifted.
Over half of London local authorities responding to our investigation said they were seeking to build new housing to meet rising demand as the gap between Affordable Rent and social rent widens. Despite this high demand, our research also indicates councils are unlikely to build themselves more than about 500 new homes this year. This is in contrast to over 1,000 homes sold under Right to Buy in 2012-13.
The report makes a series of recommendations to improve the provision of council housing in London, including:
Borrowing caps should be lifted to allow local authorities access to cash to spend on building new homes.
Land owned by public bodies, including the GLA, NHS and MPS, should be made available to Boroughs at a rate that is viable for building new housing suitable for lower-income families.
The legacy of the Decent Homes Programme, due to end 2016, should be secured by renewing this funding stream and strengthened by ensuring higher environmental standards are in place.
The sale of new council housing should be put on hold, a covenant placed on homes to prevent sale to private landlords and local authorities should have the right not to sell, where a compelling case exists.
Related documents
Council Housing Report lf template version 4.pdf
Collated PDFs.pdf
Commissioned Research - Innovative Options for Building and Refurbishing Council Homes.pdf