22 February 2008
A brief surge in house-building by local authorities in England has failed to increase the number of council homes significantly, government figures reveal.
Just 30 new homes were completed by councils in the final quarter of 2007, according to the figures, published by the Department for Communities and Local Government on February 14. This compares with 259 in the first six months of last year and 46 in the corresponding quarter of 2006.
While council homes make up a small fraction of the total number of properties built annually in England, the government is relying on local authorities to help it achieve its goal of 3 million new homes by 2020. Between 2004/05 and 2005/06, the number of homes completed by councils rose from 100 to 299. But this fell back to 245 in 2006/07.
John Perry, policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said he expected councils to continue building between 200 and 300 homes annually for a few more years until measures announced in last year's housing green paper took effect.
'After that, it could rise to a couple of thousand per year, but we're not going to see vast numbers,' he added.
Fourteen authorities plan to pilot local housing companies, under which developers will build homes on council land. At least two councils intend to apply for Housing Corporation accreditation to manage homes built through the companies.
The figures also show that more homes are being completed by housing associations and private developers but the number being started is falling. In the final quarter of 2007, a total of 48,467 homes were completed – up from 42,276 in the same period of 2006. But the number of new starts fell from 42,335 to 37,940.
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