Councils deliver 40% rise in homes with their own cash

The number of homes built by councils without relying on government grant rose by 40% last year, according to government statistics.

Room 151 analysis of figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows that councils funded the building of 3,069 homes in England during 2018/19.

This was up from 2,200 the previous year, and compares to just 273 in 2010/11.

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Including homes delivered by councils using grants from Homes England and the Greater London Authority, councils delivered 5,241 affordable homes during the year, up from 4,672 the previous year.

However, the contribution made by councils is still small compared to the overall total of affordable housing – most of which is provided by housing associations and by private developers through section 106 agreements.

Taking them into consideration, the number of affordable homes rose from 47,124 to 57,485 during the year, meaning councils’ total contribution actually fell from 9.9% to 9.1%.

Councils secured 28,142 homes through section 106 agreements during the year, up from 23,116 in 2017/18.

Of the homes provided by councils without grant, 1,361 were provided at social rent levels, up from 1,101 the previous year.

However, including housing associations and section 106 agreements, the amount of social rented homes fell from 6,679 to 6,287.

Mark Robinson, chief executive of public sector procurement firm Scape Group, said: “Today’s data reveals another disastrous drop in the provision of homes for social rent under the current government.

“Local authorities – who are responsible for meeting local housing needs – are under increasing pressure to deliver.”

Robinson said that councils should be given more power to build social housing themselves.

He said: “In 1977, when councils were still responsible for new social housing 121,000 homes were built.”

Today, the Labour Party pledged to spend £75bn over the five years of the next Parliament on building council and social homes, if elected in next month’s general election.

The party said this would mean councils are building 100,000 homes a year by the end of the Parliament, with housing associations contributing 50,000.

John Healey, Labour’s housing spokesman, said: “The next Labour government will kickstart a housing revolution, with the biggest investment in new council and social homes this country has seen for decades.”

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