- Budget 2018: What do the housing measures mean?
- Crisis responds to 2018 Budget
- Research suggests a potential £320 billion windfall from new generation of high quality social housing
- Mayor boosts London councils' homebuilding teams with new £10m fund
- £43 million investment in housing in Wales for the future
- Prime Minister announces council borrowing cap will be scrapped to boost house building
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Posted 29.10.18
Local Government Association (LGA): Article link
Research commissioned by the LGA suggests that councils could generate £320 billion into the country's economy over the next 50 years if they were able to build a "new generation" of high-quality housing.
The analysis, which looks at four different future economic scenarios, demonstrates how new social housing will deliver huge gains to tax payers. The worst-case economic scenario still results in a £102 billion return.
Unlike investments in most other public services and infrastructure, investment in social housing generates returned income through rents, while also creating savings in the huge annual housing benefit bill.
Investment would also create significant wider economic gains - such as increased productivity, jobs, and increased tax returns, as such a large proportion of construction revenues remain in the domestic economy.
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Posted 22.10.18
London Gov: Article link
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has launched a new £10 million fund to beef up London councils' housing and planning teams - and help boost their role building new homes in the Capital.
The new Homebuilding Capacity Fund will allow councils to bid for up to £750,000 each to boost their housing and planning teams. This could include hiring new staff to lead council homebuilding projects and develop new masterplans.
Bids will be considered that help to deliver:
The Homebuilding Capacity Fund will work alongside other practical support that City Hall is providing to help councils build again.
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Posted 16.10.18
Welsh Government: Article link
Housing and Regeneration Minister Rebecca Evans has announced which projects will share in the second phase of the three-year Innovative Housing Programme, worth £90 million in total.
Houses that generate their own power, flats with vertical gardens and homes built using local supply chains are some of the projects to share in £43 million of innovative housing funding this year.
Rebecca Evans said:
"We are investing in our Innovative Housing Programme to reduce fuel poverty, reduce the impact of house building on the environment, and reduce the health and wellbeing inequalities which are exacerbated by poor quality housing.
"It is clear that if the scale and pace of house-building is to increase significantly, traditional approaches are unlikely to deliver on their own. Done the right way, we have an opportunity to build high quality, near zero carbon homes, capturing and boosting the skills and expertise within the Welsh construction and manufacturing industries."
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Posted 03.10.18
Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH): Article link
In her keynote speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Theresa May announced the government would scrap the cap on how much councils can borrow to build houses.
She said building more homes was the "biggest domestic policy challenge of the generation".
Chartered Institute of Housing director of policy and external affairs Gavin Smart said:
"This is excellent news and we look forward to seeing the detail. We have been calling on the government to lift the local authority borrowing cap to help councils build more genuinely affordable homes so it's great to see the Prime Minister listening to the voice of housing professionals.
"If we are to have any hope of tackling our national housing crisis, councils must play a critical role and this move will help them reach their potential.
"But if course it's not just a numbers game - we need to make sure we are building the right homes, in the right places, at the right prices. That's why it is so important to give councils the tools they need to build more truly affordable homes for social rent."
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Updated 31.10.18
