Responding to the Government’s latest house-building figures, Cllr Martin Tett, the LGA’s Housing spokesman, said:
“Although any increase in the number of homes is a positive step, it really is essential we get towards the Government’s own target of 300,000 new homes, of all types and tenure, a year, if we’re to tackle our national housing shortage.
“Councils were responsible for more than forty per cent of homes the last time we reached those numbers and it’s essential that we trigger a renaissance in council house-building if we are to tackle this effectively.
“The Government’s recent steps towards lifting the housing borrowing cap for some councils was positive, but this now needs to become a reality for all councils, across the country, and free from restrictions. Millions of people struggling to secure a home of their own or rent affordably in our communities need us to move rapidly towards addressing our housing shortage, not take tentative steps.
“The Government should deliver the resurgence in council housing we need, by lifting the housing borrowing cap for all councils immediately.”
Housing, planning and homelessness
As house builders, housing enablers, and landlords; as planners, place-shapers, and agents of growth, transport and infrastructure; as responsible guardians to the vulnerable and the homeless; and as democratically accountable to communities – local government is at the heart of the housing solution.