The government must provide authorities with enough funding to boost housebuilding, councils have said, in response to a report that warned the private sector will be unable to fix the housing crisis...
Significant government investment to almost quadruple social and affordable home-building could reduce homelessness and deliver net economic benefits of £1.5bn a year, researchers have said.
It’s time to halt the merry-go-round of ministers and better resource local planning departments so we can focus on the country’s housing need, writes Jonathan Pearson.
Local authorities should have more power to build homes to support people most in need, and ministers must avoid targets that focus purely on the number of properties built, MPs have said.
The government is unlikely to hit its target for delivering affordable homes in rural areas, because wider market issues have had “a disproportionate impact” there, a senior civil servant has warned...
Proposals to give local authorities flexibility on how they spend levies charged on development projects could give councils the “easy option” to reduce local investment, MPs have warned.
Sustained long-term funding and higher local authority retention of right-to-buy sales hold the key to meeting affordable homes targets, experts have said.
Spelthorne District Council has voted not to reimpose a moratorium on high-rise housing development that delayed its own affordable housing programme, costing it more than £1m.
Warrington Borough Council has given the green light to on-lend £37.5m to a housing provider, whilst speculation continues over the future of its partly-owned company Together Energy.
The London Borough of Merton is set to relinquish property sale income on a £1.2bn joint-venture, after a funding gap emerged in the project last year.
The London Borough of Bromley will provide £20m of its own resources for a joint-venture aimed at providing 300 homes at affordable rent for residents.
The government has revised support measures to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority after pulling out of a £100m affordable housing agreement.
Merton Council plans to wind up its wholly owned housing company Merantun Development Ltd, after the company’s business case was deemed “no longer viable”.
The Scottish Government is to pump an additional £200m of funding into its Affordable Housing Supply Programme next year, to help the construction sector’s recovery from Covid-19.
The economic fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic will require higher levels of investment in social housing, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing.
The prime minister has announced an extra £236m of funding as official figures show rough sleeping in England has fallen by 9% in a year but remains 141% higher than a decade ago.
