Southwark Council leads 10-year plan for England’s social housing

A 10-year plan aimed at boosting England’s social housing, which has been spearheaded by a London council, has been published.

Southwark Council led the report, called “Securing the future of council housing”, which features a five-point plan and has been developed by 20 local authorities in England.

Kieron Williams, Southward Council leader, said their proposal would “secure England’s council homes for generations to come”.

Jim McMahon, minister for housing, communities and local government, recognized that councils have “had to deal with very significant budget pressures”.

The five solutions posed in the interim report are:

Mr Williams said: “We are releasing this interim report now, from England’s largest council landlords, because we want to work with the new government from day one to deliver the more and better council homes that our communities need.

“With a growing number of council landlords on the brink, urgent action is needed to put our national council housing finances back on firm foundations.”

He added: “Council homes are so much more than bricks and mortar. They are a cornerstone of better health, education, economic growth and environment.

“By investing in them together, we can transform lives for the better for generations to come.

“Our five solutions offer the new government an opportunity to turn this around – lifting the council homes we have up to modern, safe, healthy and green standards, and delivering the thousands more council homes that our country urgently needs.”

Reacting to the report’s publication, Mr McMahon said: “Our councils do a wonderful job but they’ve had to deal with very significant budget pressures.

“Building 1.5 million new homes will deal with significant demand in temporary accommodation because people have a safe, secure, affordable place to live.”

The other councils involved in the paper are: Birmingham, Bristol, Camden, Dudley, Greenwich, Hackney, Hull, Islington, Kirklees, Lambeth, Leeds, Leicester, Lewisham, Newcastle, Nottingham, Rotherham, Sandwell, Sheffield and Wolverhampton.