Building homes, creating communities: Ensuring councils provide innovative solutions to meeting housing need

Published by APSE and written and researched by the TCPA, this report finds that UK councils are becoming increasingly unable to meet demands for affordable housing and 98% now describe their need as either ‘severe’ or ‘moderate’, with only 1% claiming that their need is not substantial.

The survey of 166 local authorities in Britain highlights the pressure on councils to meet the growing demand for affordable housing due to a lack of new homes being built and that many of those that are being built are not affordable to those in need.

The research highlights the cumulative impact of existing housing and planning policies in England — such as the 1 per cent annual rent reductions in the social rented sector and the continued deregulation and reform of the planning system — have reduced the ability of councils to secure genuinely affordable homes available for social rent.

By exploring a range of issues faced by councils, this study has identified how local authorities are already taking a more active role in housing delivery through entrepreneurial approaches, such as setting up local housing companies and innovative approaches to partnership working. Over two thirds (69%) of councils surveyed said that they already had or were thinking about setting up a local authority housing company either on their own or in partnership.

The report has been released to coincide with the upcoming election and makes 15 recommendations to the incoming government, including a call for investment in building new homes available for social rent to house Britain’s ‘essential’ low-paid workers.

The full report is available to download for free. To purchase a hard copy, please complete the form below.

For further information, please contact Mo Baines at APSE on 0161 772 1810 or email [email protected].

Download Research (pdf)