Housing Waiting Lists Could Double Next Year

One in 10 households in need of housing are stuck on council waiting lists for over five years as a result of the chronic shortage of affordable homes. A new report, Building post-pandemic prosperity, commissioned by the LGA, ARCH, and the NFA, sets out the case for building 100,000 green social homes for rent each year as part of the recovery from COVID-19, to deliver net zero housing and “level-up” the nation. It also reveals that as a result of the pandemic, council housing waiting lists could almost double next year to as many as 2.1 million households, due to the impact of Covid-related support schemes winding down and a potential increase in homelessness. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/housing-waiting-lists-could-double-next-year-one-10-stuck-queue-more-5-years-new 

Eight In 10 Want A Say On All Housing In Their Local Area

Eight in 10 residents want to be able to have their say on all new homes built in their local community. A survey by the LGA found 82 per cent of respondents felt it was important to be able to comment on individual plans for all housing developments in their local area. The LGA says it is vital that a local, democratically-led planning system remains in place so local communities can continue to have their say on individual developments, and ensure the right homes are built in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure. Read more on the Specification Online website.

https://specificationonline.co.uk/articles/2021-07-28/lga/eight-in-10-want-a-say-on-all-housing-in-their-local-area 

Council Spending On B&Bs For Homeless Increased By 430% Over Last Decade

Local authorities are spending over five times more on housing homeless people in B&Bs than they were a decade ago, research by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found. Official figures show that councils in England spent £142m placing homeless households in B&Bs in 2019/20, up 430% from £26.7m in 2010/11. There are currently 10,510 households living in B&Bs, according to provisional data, compared to 2,310 a decade ago, marking a 355% increase. The LGA said these figures underline “the desperate need to build more social housing”. Read more on Inside Housing.

Inside Housing - News - Council spending on B&Bs for homeless increased by 430% over last decade, research shows 

Jenrick Pledges To Consider New Developer Levy

Housebuilders have reacted with scepticism to comments by Robert Jenrick suggesting the government is considering taxing developers if they don’t build out planning permissions quickly enough. Writing in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, the communities secretary said the government was going to “look at ways of ensuring sites build out as expected”, after the Local Government Association last week raised concerns over unused planning permissions for more than one million homes. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/jenrick-pledges-to-consider-new-developer-levy/5111886.article 

Developers Yet To Seek Planning Permission For More Than A Million Homes

More than a million homes on land earmarked for development by councils are yet to be brought forward by developers for planning permission, new research by the Local Government Association suggests. These are homes on sites which do not yet have planning permission but have formally been identified as suitable for housing by local councils through the local plan process. Local plans are a set of planning policies drawn up by councils, which allocate the number of homes to be built in local areas in consultation with local communities. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/developers-yet-seek-planning-permission-more-million-earmarked-homes-lga-research

Thousands Of Affordable Home Would Have Been Lost Under Planning Reforms

The LGA is warning that some councils could see an almost 50% reduction in affordable housing delivery. Under current rules, only sites of 10 homes or fewer are exempt from providing affordable housing through Section 106 agreements. However, in August the government announced plans to increase this threshold to 40 or 50 homes. Analysis by Glenigan found that between 2015/16 and 2019/20, 119,505 homes were delivered on sites between 10 and 49 units. This would have included 29,876 affordable homes through Section 106 agreements, based on current rules that require developers to deliver 25% affordable housing on sites of this size. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/lga-thousands-affordable-home-would-have-been-lost-under-planning-reforms 

Social Homes May Go Unbuilt Without Right To Buy Extension

Councils have demanded an extension to the time they have to spend money through Right to Buy sales before it returns to the government. The Local Government Association (LGA) warned that the coronavirus means much-needed new social housing could go unbuilt unless ministers grant the extension. Local authorities are only allowed to hold on to Right to Buy receipts for spending on replacement homes for three years until they have to give the cash back to the Treasury. But the LGA said many councils are worried they will not have time to spend the cash with housebuilding delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and called for the deadline to be extended to at least five years. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/coronavirus-social-homes-may-go-unbuilt-without-right-buy-extension

Councils Told To House All Rough Sleepers In England By Weekend

Councils have been given 48 hours to find emergency accommodation for all rough sleepers in England following an unprecedented, but unfunded, request from the government that all homeless people should be housed by Sunday (29 March). Council officials welcomed the urgency of the request but expressed concern about the difficulty of the task, given the already acute accommodation shortages. These shortages worsened this week after a parallel government instruction to hotels to close. The Local Government Association (LGA) said councils would need extra funding if they were to meet the deadline. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/councils-told-to-house-all-rough-sleepers-in-england-by-weekend

Budget 2020: LGA Responds To Housing Announcements

Responding to the Budget Cllr David Renard, the LGA’s housing spokesman, said: “Investment in the Affordable Homes Programme is a positive step, but it is vital the programme is re-focussed towards building homes for social rent. We are also pleased the Government acted to cut the interest rates for investment in social housing. It is good the Government has announced further funding to get people sleeping rough off the streets and into safe and warm accommodation. With over two thirds of councils spending more than they planned to on tackling homelessness, it is vital the Government follows this with long-term funding for homeless prevention in the Spending Review.” Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/budget-2020-lga-responds-housing-announcements

Right To Buy Future Under Threat From £5bn National Discounts

Tenants have received discounts of nearly £5bn to help purchase their council home under Right to Buy (RTB) since the size of the discount was increased in April 2012, new analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals. The LGA warns the scheme faces an uncertain future unless councils are given the flexibility to set discounts locally and retain 100% of sales receipts to fund replacement homes. The national RTB discount, set by government, currently averages 42% of market value. Since the Government increased the size of the RTB discount in April 2012, the average discount on a property has increased by 137% to more than £63,000. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/lga-ps5-billion-national-discounts-threatening-future-right-buy

Councils Say 1m Homes Given Go-Ahead But Not Yet Built

Councils have hit back at possible government moves to strip them of planning powers to speed up housebuilding by releasing analysis that shows more than a million so-far unbuilt homes have been granted planning permission in the last decade. The Local Government Association said its analysis found 2,564,600 units had been given planning permission since 2009-10 and 1,530,680 had been constructed. The LGA argues the figures show that the white paper should allow local authorities to build on land that has planning permission, for example by assisting compulsory purchase on such land, and allowing councils to charge full council tax on unbuilt developments. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/20/councils-say-1m-homes-given-go-ahead-but-not-yet-built

Force Grenfell Witnesses To Give Evidence

The Local Government Association has said witnesses must be compelled to give evidence to the Grenfell inquiry. The chair of the Grenfell Tower inquiry has delayed the hearing for at least two weeks so that the Attorney General can decide whether evidence from witnesses should be used in future prosecutions. But Lord Porter, building safety spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: “All those involved in any way have a duty to fully participate in the inquiry, tell the unedited truth, answer for their actions and accept responsibility for their role in the deaths of at least 72 people and the ongoing trauma inflicted upon the survivors and the bereaved.” Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/force-grenfell-witnesses-to-give-evidence-lga-peer-says/5104217.article

Homeless Families Putting Budgets Under Strain, Say Councils

Growing numbers of homeless families and the increasing cost of putting them up in bed and breakfast hotels caused two-thirds of English local authorities to break their homelessness budgets last year, say councils. Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that councils collectively spent £663m on homelessness services in 2018-19 – a 28% overspend amounting to a £140m excess budget. It warned that local homelessness services were being pushed to “breaking point” by rising demand caused by a shortage of social housing and the gap between rents and housing benefit. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/29/homeless-families-putting-budgets-under-strain-say-councils

Over 13,500 Affordable Homes ‘Lost Through Office Conversions’

Communities could have lost out on more than 13,500 desperately needed affordable homes in the past four years as a result of rules allowing offices to be converted into housing without planning permission, new LGA analysis has revealed. In some parts of the country, office conversions carried out under the permitted development right – which allows homes to be created without going through the planning system – amount to almost half of all new housing. This means communities have no way to ensure developers meet high-quality standards, provide any affordable homes as part of the development or ensure supporting infrastructure such as roads, schools, and health services are in place. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/lga-over-13500-affordable-homes-lost-through-office-conversions

Making The Most Of Our Private Rented Sector To Tackle Homelessness

Nottingham City Council wanted to explore how they could further utilise the private rented sector to discharge their homelessness prevention and relief duties. Effective use of the private rented sector as a housing resource is very important in Nottingham because the private sector is often both the cause and solution for homelessness. As well as exploring ways in which the Council could better engage with the PRS in order to secure more properties, it wanted to look at the ways in which it could deploy earlier interventions in order to prevent people from becoming homeless from PRS homes. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/making-most-our-private-rented-sector-tackle-homelessness

Lack Of Political Focus On Elderly Housing Could ‘Cost UK Billions’

A lack of political action on elderly housing could “cost the UK billions” if not properly addressed, Lord Richard Best has said. With social care being provided increasingly in the home, it is estimated that some 400,000 ‘lifetime homes’ are now required to meet the demands of an ageing population. According to Shelter, there are currently over two million older people living in non-decent properties. And the Local Government Association forecast the number of over-65s whose day-to-day activities are significantly limited will reach three million by 2025, a rise of almost 30%. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/lack-of-political-focus-on-elderly-housing-could-cost-uk-billions/

LGA Has Another Go At Right To Buy Reform

Having been snubbed by the Spending Review, the LGA is having another go at Right To Buy (RTB) reform, hoping the Queen’s Speech has scope for councils retaining all receipts and setting discounts locally to boost housebuilding. Pitching a seven-point plan to boost public services, the LGA proposes a new Housing and Planning Bill to empower council-home delivery – with provision for streamlining the local plan process and greater powers to act where housebuilding has stalled, scrapping permitted development rights – and devolve RTB. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/lga-sets-out-queens-speech-seven-point-plan-boost-public-services

LGA Goes ‘Gloves Off’ Over Right To Buy Reform

The LGA has gone ‘gloves off’ over council housebuilding – warning the government that plans for thousands of new homes are at risk unless Right To Buy (RTB) is reformed in next month’s Spending Round. Last year, councils built more homes than they have for a quarter of a century, with latest LGA stats showing councils in England alone directly built 2,560. That’s the highest since 1992/3 when councils built 2,580 homes. “However, the number of new council homes being built is not able to keep pace with those sold under Right To Buy,” said LGA housing spokesperson Cllr Judith Blake. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/lga-goes-gloves-off-over-right-to-buy-reform/

Partner With Housing Associations To Use Borrowing Freedoms, Says LGA Chair

The outgoing leader of the Local Government Association (LGA) has said councils should partner with housing associations to make the most of new borrowing freedoms to build more homes. Lord Gary Porter, who stepped down as chair of the LGA this week after serving his four-year term, told Inside Housing there “is a serious issue” about councils having enough internal capacity and experienced staff to develop at scale. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/partner-with-housing-associations-to-use-borrowing-freedoms-says-lga-chair-62133

200,000 Households In Temporary Accommodation

Eight in 10 councils have seen an increase in homelessness presentations since the Reduction Act’s introduction in 2017. More people are being placed in temporary and emergency accommodation because of the Homelessness Reduction Act, a survey by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals. The survey highlights how because of the Act, councils are struggling to cope with rising numbers of people facing homelessness, with a lack of affordable housing available to house them. The findings come ahead of the anniversary of the Homelessness Reduction Act, which placed a renewed focus on homelessness prevention and introduced a range of new duties on councils, coming into force on 1st April last year. Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/lga-councils-warn-rise-temporary-accommodation-use-homelessness-reduction-act