Call for 100,000 social homes a year to aid recovery from COVID-19

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for councils to be given the powers to build thousands of "desperately needed" council homes to "spearhead" the recovery from COVID-19.

The LGA argue that post-pandemic, 100,000 affordable homes are needed to provide housing for key workers and the families of those who lost their lives to the virus. They say this would address the downturn in construction because of the virus, as housebuilders closed their sites.

According to the LGA, the programme would also:

• benefit the economy;
• help the Government to achieve its target to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s; and
• alleviate pressures on health and social care that result from poor housing conditions.

A Report by the LGA published in June 2020 sets out the key issues and recommendations for the Government to deliver a social housebuilding programme. These include:

• council housing delivery should be expanded by bringing forward and increasing the £12 billion extension of the Affordable Homes Programme announced in the 2020 Budget, with an increased focus on social rent homes;
• Right to Buy should be reformed, councils should be able to retain 100% of receipts from the sale of homes under the scheme. The deadline by which the money from sales is spent should be extended to at least five years, and councils should be given the power to set the size of discounts locally;
• a skills and jobs strategy is required to increase capacity in the building industry to help to accelerate a social housing building programme.

David Renard, housing spokesman for the LGA, said: "As the nation comes through the biggest crisis we have faced since the Second World War, we owe it to the health, care and other essential public service workers, who have risked their lives to keep the country running to provide them with affordable, high-quality homes fit for heroes".

Renard suggests the Government should let councils take charge of housing recovery by giving them powers and tools to build more affordable homes. He states that the programme of 100,000 social homes a year would not only meet a third of the Government's housebuilding target, but would also generate a range of social and economic benefits.

"Now is the time for a genuine renaissance in council housebuilding that reduces homelessness, gets people off the streets for good, supports people’s wellbeing and is climate-friendly".

For more information on this subject, see:

• Delivery of council housing.