Over a hundred new council homes will be built in addition to the 1000 promised by 2029 after a £12m boost was given to Sheffield City Council from Homes England.
Sheffield councillor and Chair of the Housing & Homelessness Committee, Douglas Johnson said: “[social housing] is at a critical point where the government needs to act to make sure that council stock is still viable.
“The difference this money makes is it means that we can keep the rents at a traditional council rent level.”
The council have promised 112 new homes after the waitlist for council housing in Sheffield currently stands at 25,000.
The recent budget boosts like these “just makes a small inroad” into addressing the demand for housing at an accessible price.
The Future of Council Housing Summit which took place on 6 March in Sheffield brought together over 100 council leaders nationally to address what Cllr Douglas Johnson called “very reasonable, modest demands to the government”.
Over recent years social housing has been affected nationally, with tightened budgets and shifting policies.
Labour declared that they would build 1.5 million homes within five years, and Sheffield City Council has pledged to deliver 40,000 new homes by 2039.
Cllr Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council, and the summit organiser, said: “Cuts to our income and soaring costs have undermined our agreement with government and left a huge gap in our housing budgets. However, councils will play a critical role in reaching the government’s ambition for 1.5 million new homes.”
The party are currently pushing a bill through parliament which would give councils greater power to acquire land, in hopes of speeding up building.
Cllr Douglas Johnson said: “That in itself probably won’t make that much difference, that’s not the big rocker.
“It’s okay providing the power to acquire new land and building housing but it’s no use at all if the government doesn’t provide the right amount money.”
The Chair of the Housing and Homelessness committee see the stable future of social housing stands in the “revitalising” of estates that were once council housing.
Empty council homes stood at over 1000 in 2023 and a re-focus on these empty properties and investment into repairs has seen the number fall to about 400.
Ultimately, Cllr Douglas Johnson is only one in over 100 key leaders nationally, that believes the way forward is to urge the government “to really focus on housing that has been neglected for so long”.
