Posted 18.07.17
Local Government Association (LGA): Article link
The LGA has unveiled the Housing Advisers Programme - a new scheme to help councils tackle local housing challenges.
The Programme, which funds the provision of an independent expert, is available to local authorities undertaking a specific project that delivers and plans for new homes, reduces homelessness, or helps councils generate savings or revenues.
Each local authority will "own" the project individually, with the adviser providing crucial expertise to help the council innovate and improve.
The Housing Advisers Programme is designed to encourage innovation amongst councils who need to meet the needs of their communities, against a backdrop of spiralling house prices, expensive and unstable rents, and more and more local residents priced out of owning a home of their own.
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Posted 03.07.17
Local Government Association (LGA): Article link
A shortage of affordable housing is leaving a generation stuck in a "rental logjam", warns the LGA.
Its new analysis show that almost one in seven private renters (14%) are spending more than half of their total income on rent, in stark contrast to just 2% of homeowners on their mortgage.
Local government leaders said the figures highlight the difficulties renters face not just in finding an affordable home to live in, but in saving up a deposit for a home of their own, with the average deposit now costing 71%t of a first time buyer's annual income.
The LGA is calling for the Government to enable the building of a new wave of rented homes that reflect what families can actually afford - no more than a third of total household incomes.
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Updated 21.07.17
