Responding to the announcement on social housing made by the
Prime Minister today, , Chairman of the Local
Government Association, said:
“Councils have always been proud of their housing and tenants and
the positive recognition of social housing by the Prime Minister
today must be shared by all.
“Our national housing shortage is one of the most pressing issues
we face. Any new access to funding for housing associations to
employ more brickies and less bureaucrats and build more
affordable homes is positive but does not go far enough.
“Homes for affordable and social rent are desperately needed
across the country now, not in 2022, and the measures announced
today fail to provide the funding certainty councils also need to
play a leading role in solving our housing crisis.
“The Prime Minister is wrong to suggest that councils are not
capable of building the new homes at scale without recognising
they are being hamstrung by Treasury restrictions which prevent
them from borrowing against their existing housing stock.
“The last time this country built homes at the scale that we need
now was in the 1970s when councils built more than 40 per cent of
them. Councils were trusted to get on and build homes that their
communities needed, and they delivered, and they can do so again.
“If our country is to get back to building the 300,000 homes a
year we need, then the Government needs to ensure all areas of
the country can borrow to invest in building new affordable homes
and the necessary infrastructure to go with them.
“The Government’s renewed emphasis on social housing and its
tenants must be backed up in the forthcoming Spending Review.”
