“Councils want to work with government to build the housing we need, ensuring it is affordable, built in the right places and supported by the right infrastructure to serve the needs of local communities."
Responding to quarterly housing supply figures released today, showing a 5 per cent decrease in the number of dwellings where building work has started on site, compared to the last quarter, Cllr David Renard, Local Government Association housing spokesperson, said:
“Councils want to work with government to build the housing we need, ensuring it is affordable, built in the right places and supported by the right infrastructure to serve the needs of local communities.
“This is why we are calling on government in the Spending Review to give councils the powers and funding they need to build 100,000 green social homes for rent each year, which would help to tackle homelessness and achieve a third of the Government’s annual housing target.
“This should include further reform to Right to Buy, by allowing councils to retain 100 per cent of receipts, have flexibility to combine Right to Buy receipts with other government grants and be able to set the size of discounts locally.
“With over 1.1 million homes given planning permission in the last decade also yet to be built, developers need to be incentivised to build housing more quickly.”
Notes to editors