News

Every area in England should be handed a new local housing deal by 2025 to spark a “generational step-change” in council housebuilding.

Almost £6 billion has been given out in discounts through the Right to Buy (RTB) scheme since the size of the discount was increased in 2012, new analysis by the Local Government Association reveals.

Increasing numbers of families are turning to councils for temporary accommodation as homelessness reaches record highs, the Local Government Association warns.  Analysis from the LGA, which represent councils across England, reveals that the number of households living in temporary accommodation has risen by 89 per cent over the past decade to 104,000 households at the end of March 2023 – the highest figures since records began in 1998 – costing councils at least £1.74 billion in 2022/23.  The severe shortage of social housing means councils are being forced to pay to house people in private

Young people today are half as likely to own a home as they were 20 years ago, while existing home-owners face being unable to move, according to a new report by the Local Government Association.

Twenty-one councils have been successful in their applications for the Local Government Association’s 2022/23 Housing Advisers Programme (HAP).

The Local Government Association has announced the 17 successful applicants for its Housing Advisers Programme 2020/21 (HAP), an innovative scheme to help councils overcome housing challenges in their local areas, address the impact of COVID-19 on the housing crisis and meet the housing needs of local communities.

The programme is designed to support councils by funding the provision of independent expertise for councils undertaking specific projects to tackle the effects of the housing crisis in their local communities.

Some people sleeping rough in some areas could be forced to stay out in the cold this winter to avoid a risk of infection in unsafe settings, due to shortfalls in funding and appropriate accommodation for councils to use, a new report for the Local Government Association warns today.

​​​​​​​The Local Government Association is launching a new peer challenge to support stock-owning councils to improve their management of social housing, in the context of the expectations outlined in the Government’s social housing white paper and recently published Social Housing Regulation Bill.

“There are more than a million people on council waiting lists and councils can further get on with the job of building the new homes that people in their areas desperately need if they are able to keep all RTB receipts to replace any homes sold.”