The ‘1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge’ campaign, has published its first annual review, and calls for the government to address top challenges to achieve housing targets
The Local Government Challenge campaign is an independent campaign that speaks with local councils to identify issues preventing them from delivering on government housing targets.
The first annual review has identified the 10 most pressing issues that the government must address to achieve the 1.5m new homes target.
The campaign highlights “challenge and ingenuity already being shown”
So far, the review has found the top 10 issues to be:
- Viability
- Funding
- Building safety regulation
- Market stability and investment confidence
- Land availability and assembly
- Density and infrastructure delivery
- Construction industry capacity
- Community engagement and trust
- Gaining planning consent and using Local Plans to support housebuilding
- Council capacity
With viability being the number 1 issue, the review found that construction costs have risen by 30-40% in the last five years, and grant rates have not kept up. Safety approvals, shortage of planners, market instability, and reduced investment confidence are all also major issues preventing local council delivery.
Toby Fox, founder of 1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge, said:
“Our video interviews on housing sites with a different council each month highlight both the scale of the challenge and the ingenuity already being shown locally. Councils are finding ways to unlock stalled sites, build political will, and engage their communities. This Review analyses those interviews to create a data set enabling government and partners to see how best they can support councils to deliver our shared national ambition of 1.5 million new homes.”
Stephen Teagle, chair of The Housing Forum, said:
“The Housing Forum works closely with the whole of the housing sector and supply chain. This includes our councils across the country, who we know are keen to build more homes, but face enormous challenges in doing so. We hope that this report will help identify not just the barriers, but also the opportunities and solutions that are available, to help councils fulfil their role as builders and facilitators of much-needed new homes.”
Councils are being held to strict standards
In August, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) found that five councils were falling short of RSH standards, requiring significant improvements.
These five councils were East Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Leicester City Council, North Kesteven District Council, and Redditch Borough Council.
The results of each investigation are below.
Of East Suffolk Council:
- Around 50% of its homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
- Resolution of hazards, and damp and mould cases had not been fully tracked.
Of Ipswich Council:
- Had gaps in its data, including in relation to the assessment of hazards in tenants’ homes in line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), as required by the Decent Homes Standard.
- Lacked comprehensive data about the diverse needs of its tenants.
Of Leicester City Council:
- Had not had an electrical safety test for around 70% of its homes.
- Had a lack of up-to-date information on the condition of most of its homes, with its last comprehensive stock condition survey undertaken in 2009, and those surveys did not include an assessment of HHSRS hazards in line with the Decent Homes Standard.
Of North Kesteven District Council:
- Is not meeting its targets for routine repairs or voids service.
- Only a third of its homes had a HHSRS assessment in place as required by the Decent Homes Standard.
Of Redditch Borough Council:
- Had around 2,900 overdue fire remedial actions, including around 800 high-risk actions that had been overdue for more than 12 months.
- Had almost 3,000 overdue repairs.
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