November 16, 2020 | less than a minute read

Council's building homes to help post-pandemic prosperity

Anthony Collins

Building post-pandemic prosperity is the title of a report, recently commissioned by the Association of Retained Council Housing, Local Government Association and the National Federation of ALMOs.

The report suggests building 100,000 council homes for social rent would boost the economy by £14.5 billion, as well as supporting 89,000 jobs.

There is no denying that councils do not have the capacity to deliver house building programmes on the scale of the 1970’s and 1980’s. On the other hand, the funding models of many housing associations and private developers are substantially weakened due to the Covid pandemic. There is therefore an opportunity for innovative partnerships between councils, housing associations, land owners and developers. Those partnerships could then potentially deliver 100,000 new council homes for social rent each year.

the report also says more social home building would help deliver the Government’s levelling-up agenda and rescue the country’s ailing construction industry. Cllr David Renard, LGA housing spokesperson, said: ‘Building 100,000 social homes for rent a year would bring significant social and economic benefits, from tackling our housing crisis and reducing rising levels of homelessness