The roll-out of five-year local housing deals by 2025 would lead
to 200,000 additional social homes being built over the span of
30 years, a new report by the Local Government Association says
today.
The LGA's Local Government White Paper calls on the Government to
commit to the local deals, which would combine funding from
multiple national housing programmes into a single pot.
The report, from Pragmatix, finds that a system that allows local
management and greater consistency of housing funding is key to
delivering the social homes our country greatly needs and could
lead to a 21 per cent increase in social housebuilding.
Moving towards one single long-term fund could help improve the
delivery of housing by prioritising a strategic approach over
short-term thinking and help to avoid the boom-and-bust cycles of
housebuilding.
Delivery of more social rented homes through five-year regimes
would also deliver benefits such as:
- Reduced government spending: with reduced need for emergency
assistance, lower housing benefit payments and decreased
expenditure on homelessness services.
- Tax benefits from construction: the construction of homes for
social rent would yield higher tax revenues due to increased
economic activity in the construction sector.
- Lower spending on temporary accommodation provision: spending
on temporary accommodation and homelessness support would
decrease, resulting in long-term savings of £4.5 billion for
local authorities over 30 years.
The findings suggest a programme of consecutive minimum five-year
housing regimes is estimated to deliver net socioeconomic
benefits worth £31 billion in today's prices over 30 years.
Cllr Claire Holland, Housing spokesperson for the LGA said:
“Over the last 30 years, growth in the housing stock has
stagnated and the number of housing completions is failing to
keep up with demand. The only way to solve this country's
housing crisis is by giving councils the powers and resources to
build more of the genuinely affordable homes our communities
desperately need.
“Councils know their areas best and need the autonomy and funding
certainty to be able to deliver long-term plans for housebuilding
in their local areas.
“Five-year local housing deals are crucial to give local areas
the powers to build more affordable, good quality homes at scale,
quickly, where they are needed.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- The LGA's Local Government White Paper sets out how a reset
relationship between central and local government is the only way
the Government can tackle the challenges facing the country. It
includes analysis showing councils in England face a funding gap
of £6.2 billion over the next two years.
