Councils need some serious funding if they are to return to large-scale housebuilding

The party leadership doesn’t agree. In the funding document produced alongside their manifesto there was no sign of new money available for council house building. The only money shown was for a social housing decarbonisation fund.

The coalition government’s first Affordable Homes Programme did have some funding for council housing, although it insisted on driving rents up to “affordable rent” level, unaffordable for many.

In its second Affordable Homes Programme there was no money available for ‘social housing’, save for 8,000 supported housing units. They also ignored the LGA’s demand that councils should be able to keep 100% of Right to Buy receipts, without which they cannot not replace those homes sold.

The latest homelessness statistics show that 70% of councils are spending more on homelessness than planned for.

“Unfortunately this emphasis [on homeownership] was reflected in the news that First Homes will be funded by Section 106 money, which could otherwise fund council housing”

They planned to spend a total of £502.7m in 2018/19. Yet they ended up overspending by £140m. This is an inevitable result of the continued fall in the number of of council homes available.

Owing to the policies of these governments, the number in England fell by 194,000 between 2010 and 2018. Since 2010, local authorities have completed only 14,980 new build council homes.

This has barely replaced half of the 29,590 that have been demolished – a category that barely gains a mention.

Although there has been an increase in building as a result of raising the borrowing cap, it is on an insufficient scale to replace homes lost through Right to Buy and demolition. Moreover, as a result of the 2012 ‘debt settlement’ Housing Revenue Accounts have insufficient funds to renew their existing stock over the long term, never mind building on a large scale.

Council housing stock numbers have fallen in every year since 1979.

The Conservative manifesto did talk of renewing the Affordable Homes Programme “in order to support the delivery of hundreds of thousands of affordable homes”, although this would include shared ownership.

There is no sign of funding to build council housing on a large scale. The latest statistics from Homes England show that of 57,543 properties funded with government grant, 29,604 were for “affordable homeownership” and a paltry 913 were for ‘social rent’.

While Mr Renard’s words are welcome, tenants and those on housing waiting lists will want to know how serious he and the LGA are.

Will they back these words up with action? What will they do to press the government to provide the funding that is needed for a large-scale council homebuilding programme?

Given the fact that Labour’s policy in its manifesto was for the building of 100,000 council homes a year by the end of this parliament, there should be no obstacle in the way of a cross-party effort to press the government to provide the funding to “enable councils to resume their historic role as major house builders”.

“The LGA has hundreds of councils affiliated. It should call on them to each write to the government calling for grant to fund large-scale social rent council housebuilding”

But is the LGA Conservative Group prepared to challenge its government? Private conversations with ministers will not shift them. Words are easy, but they need to be acted on, otherwise those desperate for new council housing will draw the conclusion that the LGA has no serious intent.

Changes in policy in relation to the private rented sector, such as ending ‘no fault’ evictions, were the result of the combined efforts of a coalition of tenant groups and campaigns, which managed to raise the profile in the national media. Can we achieve the same in relation to grant for council housebuilding?

The LGA has hundreds of councils affiliated. It should call on them to each write to the government calling for grant to fund large-scale social rent council housebuilding.

They can each put some pressure on their local MPs, too. A national focus for collective campaigning efforts could be a parliamentary lobby with a high media profile. A broad-based campaign will be necessary to shift the government. Without a return to building of social rent council homes sufficient to increase the numbers year on year, then the housing crisis will continue to worsen and numbers will continue to fall.

Martin Wicks, secretary, Swindon Tenants Campaign Group