London will make less than half as much progress against its social housing waiting list as rural England under the Government’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, according to new analysis by Centre for Cities.
Through the current programme, the number of social homes built by 2036 will be equivalent to just 18 per cent of London’s priority housing waiting list, compared with 46 per cent in rural areas and 26 per cent in England’s established mayoral areas.
In its report published on Thursday, ‘Rewiring council housebuilding’, Centre for Cities says that the £39 billion fund should be much more targeted towards cities, as that is where the most housing need is concentrated, and it is where there is the greatest potential for economic growth.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham came into office promising the “biggest council housebuilding programme” since the post-war building boom ended in the 1970s, and the Government has already committed to the biggest funding pot since the 1990s. While additional funding would increase the maximum potential of a new council housebuilding programme, the report identifies further actions that can be taken across all levels of government to ensure any grant goes as far as possible.
The report sets out how the Government can better target its existing grant commitment. It recommends increasing London’s share of the existing funding pot by around a third, alongside giving metro mayors greater control over social and affordable housing funding.
The report also recommends that the Government align its fiscal rules with its European peers to enable greater investment in public corporations.
To build a higher number of social and affordable homes with any available grant funding, Centre for Cities recommends:
- Give mayors control over social and affordable housing funding in their areas, as is already the case in London.
- Give councils flexibility to use market-rate development to help fund more council housebuilding.
- Support councils to deliver houses both inside and outside of Housing Revenue Accounts.
- Reform measures that add unnecessary costs to each new home, for example by reducing minimum space requirements for single-person one-bedroom flats and raising height limits on single-staircase buildings.
Ant Breach, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities, said: “The Government has rightly committed serious money to social and affordable housing and this is in an incredibly tight fiscal context. It now needs to make sure that money is targeted where housing need is greatest and where new homes can do most to support economic growth.
“Based on current plans, rural areas will build enough new social homes to make more than twice as much progress against their priority waiting lists as London. That doesn’t make sense when London has the most severe housing pressure in the country.
“London’s acute housing shortage is holding back economic growth. Historically, London has been the engine of growth for Britain. That is less true in recent years and housing is one of the capital’s biggest constraints.”
He added: “Across England, mayors should be given much greater control over social and affordable housebuilding. Housing markets don’t stop at council boundaries, and mayors are better placed to coordinate where homes are built, where infrastructure is needed and how funding is spent.”
