A survey of councils by Inside Housing to find the biggest 50 council builders shows some telling statistics. 305 councils across England, Wales and Scotland responded to our survey. Between them they completed 10,794 homes in 2023/24. This is a combined total of direct building in the Housing Revenue Account and private council owned companies. … Continue reading Social rent council homes the key to resolving the housing crisis
Category: Council House building
Council Housing Pledge
Media Release June 20th 2024 The Labour Campaign for Council Housing is asking Labour Parliamentary candidates to sign our Council Housing Pledge. It focuses on the government action required to produce a renaissance of council housing, without which there can be no resolution of the housing crisis. It calls for a Labour government to commit … Continue reading Council Housing Pledge
Zoom meeting: the financial crisis of local government and its impact on housing
The financial crisis of local authorities is spiralling out of control. Councils are running out of money as a result of the loss of grant from central government, increasing demand for services, high inflation, and the increasing cost of paying for temporary accommodation because of rising homelessness. A recent emergency meeting organised by Eastbourne council, the District … Continue reading Zoom meeting: the financial crisis of local government and its impact on housing
The financial crisis of local government and the housing crisis
"Labour council groups, CLPs and affiliated unions need to raise the alarm and demand that Labour commits to increased funding, both for local government services and for council housing." Will a Labour government come to the rescue of local government? What is it proposing to do to stop the collapse of local authorities and to … Continue reading The financial crisis of local government and the housing crisis
Section 106 agreements will not fund building on the scale we need
Increased central government grant for council housing is necessary and possible "The 100,000 social rent homes a year, and more, that are needed to liberate a new generation from the private rented sector, will not be built without central government grant." Keir Starmer has said that Labour will build 1.5 million homes over five years; … Continue reading Section 106 agreements will not fund building on the scale we need
Labour cannot resolve the housing crisis without more funding for councils
A “net positive” social housing policy will not resolve the housing crisis. Speaking at a National Housing Federation summit, Shadow Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook clarified the Labour leadership's outlook on housing policy when in government. By a “significant” reduction in RTB discounts and focusing the Affordable Homes Programme “overwhelmingly” on social rent homes “we will … Continue reading Labour cannot resolve the housing crisis without more funding for councils
Architect Peter Barber calls for end of Right to Buy
Well known and award winning architect, Peter Barber, has signed our statement calling for Labour to commit to ending Right to Buy. He recently appeared in a Channel 4 programme on housing. Here are some extracts from it. “We should have a social housing programme on the scale were were able to manage after the … Continue reading Architect Peter Barber calls for end of Right to Buy
The contradictions of Labour’s housing policy
There are no market solutions to the housing crisis At last year's conference Keir Starmer said that Labour is “the Party of Home Ownership”. It would support first time buyers with “a mortgage guarantee scheme”. At the same conference Lisa Nandy said Labour's mantra was “council housing, council housing, council housing” and it would commit … Continue reading The contradictions of Labour’s housing policy
“constant struggle to finance sufficient numbers of new properties to outpace those lost to right to buy”
Peter Lamb, Crawley councillor writes on the difficulties of build sufficient new council homes. We live in very challenging times, an era when many long-running issues are coming to a head and at times it can seem difficult to know exactly what an incoming Labour Government should prioritise. For those of us on district-tier authorities, … Continue reading “constant struggle to finance sufficient numbers of new properties to outpace those lost to right to buy”
Labour Campaign for Council Housing AGM: campaigning for policies that can resolve the housing crisis
"Without ending the disastrous Right to Buy policy and funding a large scale social rent council house building programme, a Labour government will not resolve the acute housing crisis" Our campaign's AGM will take place by zoom on February 4th at 2 p.m. We will be discussing what Labour's housing policies are, what we want … Continue reading Labour Campaign for Council Housing AGM: campaigning for policies that can resolve the housing crisis
