Report shows cross-party backing for 100,000 new council-built homes a year

In her foreword to the report, former Labour housing secretary Ruth Kelly said: “Building more council homes is likely to sit at the centre of any credible strategy to tackle the current housing crisis, not least because it is one measure to increase supply over which the government has some control.

“But this paper sets out a number of other practical reasons why the government should consider a serious council housebuilding strategy, rooted both in affordability and personal and community identity. Council houses, it argues, must not only be built, they must also be of high quality.

“For the first time, this report has brought together the key design tools and ingredients on which an exemplary new generation of British council housing can be built. As this paper explores in illuminating detail, securing this legacy means council housing that does not merely meet targets or satisfy regulations but revitalises neighbourhoods and strengthens communities.

“It means tenure-blind developments that promote mixed communities and facilitate greater social interaction between different groups. It means social housing that is not conceived as autonomous socio-economic communes but fully integrated into its surrounding streets and communities.”

The report highlights how council housing has declined in England from 28% in 1968 to 6% in 2023.

In 1954, just under 70% of all new UK homes were built by local authorities. This stood at 2% at the end of 2022.

This lack of council homes increases the cost of housing benefit, on which the UK currently spends almost £25bn a year.

The report is also backed by Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative Party chair and ex-shadow housing secretary; shadow housing minister David Simmonds; and Labour MPs Margaret Mullane and Danny Beales.

Mr Hollinrake said: “There is no solution to the housing crisis unless we are committed to building beautiful, inspiring and affordable homes.

“If the recommendations of this report are properly considered, a new generation of council housing can make a meaningful contribution to fostering both strong communities, and national economic growth.”

The report makes several recommendations to get councils back up to building 100,000 new homes a year.

A key ask is a new national design code based on a 35-point design blueprint included in the report, which will mandate council housing standards based on key architectural features such as proportion, landscaping and geometry.

A new requirement to append Right to Buy would mean that for the first time, there would be a statutory obligation to build a new council home for every one sold.

The report says that local authorities should be required to incorporate local design codes into their local plans, derived from the national model – a move that could unlock new capital grant funding for new council housing.

It also argues for the introduction of a compulsory, flat-rate and locally set version of the new Infrastructure Levy to help local authorities self-finance, and a new public land intensification pledge for councils to use existing publicly owned sites for new council housing construction, which would save on land purchase costs.

Mr Simmonds said: “In the rush to increase the quantity of social housing, we must not ignore the need to ensure that new homes are built to a high quality – and that they adhere to Policy Exchange’s long-advocated Building Beautiful thesis.

“It is essential that we build council housing stock that enhances and serves communities – for generations to come.”

Mr Beales said: “Having experienced homelessness in my teens, and after spending 10 years as a councillor working hard to deliver new council homes, I believe more strongly than ever that everyone has a right to a decent, affordable and high-quality home.

“As set out so clearly in this paper, we should be building places that are tenure blind, where affordable housing is built to the very highest standards and people have high-quality, beautiful homes that communities feel pride in.”

Ms Mullane said: “This is a timely contribution to the growing discussion around sustainable placemaking which, given the new government’s housing ambitions, will prove crucial to ensure we build communities where people can put down roots and thrive.”

The government said: “We are investing £39bn to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation as part of delivering well-designed, high-quality connected places for communities.

“This investment sits alongside our Right to Buy reforms that will reverse the decline in much-needed council housing.”