Andy Burnham’s Council-Housing Ambition Faces Financial and Institutional Hurdles

Central to the plan is the redirection of Sir Keir Starmer’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Housing Programme (SAHP) toward social-rent homes, the tenure that Burnham argues is most affordable for tenants but also the most expensive to construct. The SAHP currently targets 300,000 affordable units, with at least 180,000 designated as social rent.

iNews

Local authorities built roughly 4,000 social-rented homes last year, far below the 1960s average of 120,000. Registered providers can borrow from the National Housing Bank at 0.1 % interest, while councils are offered Treasury loans near 5 %. Analysis by Savills places council debt at £31.8 billion, generating about £1 billion in annual Treasury interest payments. The estate-agency study notes that cancelling this debt could enable councils to build up to 284,000 new social-rent homes. Industry data from Homes For People We Need estimates that each social-rented home now requires £209,260 of government funding.

iNews

A Homes England spokesperson emphasized the agency’s role in deploying capital commercially and stressed that any investment must fit within existing government, regulatory and accounting frameworks. The agency’s National Housing Bank continues to exclude councils from its low-interest loan scheme, leaving them reliant on higher-cost Treasury borrowing.

iNews

• “The fact that registered providers get lower interest rate loans than local authorities is really galling to them,” — Professor Janice Morphet, says professor

iNews

• “London boroughs now build thousands of council homes each year after being offered long-term deals by the London Mayor,” — Janice Morphet, says professor

iNews

• “If Homes England did the same, local authorities outside the capital could potentially deliver tens of thousands more.” — Janice Morphet, says professor

iNews

• “We will be urging the Prime Minister to expedite decisions on the current Social and Affordable Housing Programme, because providers are being held up,” — John Perry, senior policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Housing

iNews