Northern landlords call for £1.37bn regeneration fund to rebuild ‘outdated’ housing

At the height of the noughties housing boom, demolitions reached more than 22,000 nationally, but the figure is four times smaller now.

While regional data is not available for housing associations, nationally the total loss through demolition or sales in 2023-24 was 5,895 homes. “The rate of demolition is arguably not large enough for the renewal of outdated housing stock,” the report said.

To address this, the NHC is calling for a dedicated place-based fund totalling £1.37bn for housing-led regeneration, focused on areas with concentrations of poor-quality or ageing housing stock.

The fund would support selective acquisition, demolition, replacement and refurbishment of homes in areas in need of regeneration.

The Northern Housing Monitor also reveals the region’s growing demand for social housing, with nearly half a million households on social housing waiting lists – a 13% increase on the previous year.

The number of households forced to live in temporary accommodation is also rising fast, with an annual increase of around 16%. Over 14,000 children in the region are living in temporary accommodation.

The report also highlighted how the supply crisis has been exacerbated by the sale of 600,000 social rent homes in the North through the Right to Buy. Only one in seven have been replaced.

This contributes to a lack of social housing, increasing homelessness and people in the lowest income group being forced to rent in the private sector, where rents are higher and quality is lower, the report said.

In addition to the regeneration funding, the NHC is calling on the government to launch a new 10-year Affordable Homes Programme in the Spending Review, greater devolution of funding, and targeted support for local authorities to ensure they are set up to build new council homes.

The body also reiterated an earlier call for the government to unlock up to 320,000 homes on brownfield land in the North with a 10-year, £4.2bn programme, make quality a priority, and make sure that housing associations and local authorities have the financial stability needed to invest in new homes.

Tracy Harrison, chief executive of the NHC, said: “Housing waiting lists are increasing and the number of people forced into expensive and unsuitable temporary accommodation is skyrocketing: 3.6 million people in the North are pushed into poverty after housing costs, demonstrating the urgent need for more social housing.

“The government recently announced a £2bn top-up of the Affordable Homes Programme, something we’d been campaigning for to enable our members to continue building. However, to make a real change, longer-term funding is needed to build more homes and improve existing homes and places.”

The Northern Housing Monitor is produced by consultancy Arc4 and supported by Believe Housing, Bernicia and Yorkshire Housing. It covers housing and poverty, housing supply, housing quality and regeneration, and net zero and fuel poverty.