Sheffield joins over 100 council landlords calling for new government to save council homes

Over 100 council landlords in England are calling for the new government to save council homes.

At an event held in Westminster today, senior leaders from Sheffield City Council, including the Chair of the Housing Policy Committee, Council Leader and the Chief Executive, will be attending an unprecedented cross-party coalition of over 100 council landlords, led by Southwark Council, to jointly publish five solutions for the government to ‘secure the future of England’s council housing’.

Together, they warn that England’s council housing system is broken and that urgent action is needed for the government to deliver its housing promises.   

In July, 20 of the largest council landlords, including Sheffield City Council, published an interim summary of their recommendations. Significant traction – including an urgent meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister - has led to over 80 more councils backing the recommendations and signing the final report.  

This more detailed report, led by Southwark Council with contributions from Sheffield City Council as well as housing policy experts, sets out a full roadmap to stabilise the country’s council housing over the next decade and critical policy changes for the realisation of the new government’s social housing ambitions.  

It explains how an unsustainable financial model and erratic national policy changes have squeezed council’s housing budgets and sent costs soaring. New analysis from Savills shows they will face a £2.2bn ‘black hole’ by 2028.  

Councils have warned that unless more is done soon, most council landlords will struggle to maintain their existing homes adequately or meet the huge new demands to improve them, as well as build new homes for social rent.  

The recommendations include urgent action to restore lost income and Council capacity to work with the new government to deliver its promises for new, genuinely affordable homes throughout the country. 

The five solutions set out detailed and practical recommendations to the new government: 

1. A new fair and sustainable Housing Revenue Accountm (HRA) model – including an urgent £644 million one-off rescue injection to replace income lost through previous government policies, and long-term, certain rent and debt agreements. 
2. Reforms to unsustainable Right to Buy policies 
3. Removing red tape on existing funding 
4. A new, long-term Green & Decent Homes Programme 
5. Urgent action to restart stalled building projects, such as in Gleadless Valley, avoiding the loss of construction sector capacity and a market downturn 

They make up a plan for a ‘decade of renewal’, with local authorities and central government working together to get HRAs back on stable foundations, bring all homes up to modern and green standards, and deliver the next generation of council homes. 

Cllr Douglas Johnson, Chair of the Housing Committee, said:

“We know this will be no easy task and we acknowledge demand for social housing nationally is higher than ever before.    

“Like many other Councils across the country, we face big financial challenges within our Housing service while trying to offer tenants the service they deserve and do our best to increase the supply of social housing.  

“We believe that council housing is a vital public service we should be proud of and by working with the new government and other local authorities, we will aim to provide the highest quality housing that we can for the people of Sheffield."

For more on the report, visit the Southwark Council website.