Cllr Andrew Johnson, Cabinet Member for Housing for Hammersmith and Fulham Council, says giving councils more freedom woould promote home ownership
The recent Policy Exchange report on Ending Expensive Social Tenancies has certainly sparked a widespread debate about the merits of selling expensive social housing when it becomes vacant to provide more in cheaper areas. As mentioned in a previous post for Conservative Home overall is this something which I would support, with the caveat that the receipts be used to provide more than just social housing but a range of intermediate housing for both sale and rent.
Yet there is also the wider question of how we seek to increase housing supply in general, with the Government due to make a major policy announcement on the matter in September.
It is within this context that we’re seeking to make the case for local authorities to have a key role to play in looking to deliver market and affordable homes. Of course, councils have a key role to play through the planning process, but they are also major owners of land and property with untapped equity which, if unlocked, could generate significant resources for investment. In addition, they are also the driving force behind Regeneration schemes which in areas such as Hammersmith & Fulham can deliver thousands of homes in the short term and over the next 20 years.
Considerable progress has been made by the Government in the Localism Act and elsewhere to create flexibilities for local government, however, unnecessary restrictions still exist. Removing these could not only increase investment for new homes, without crucially increasing public borrowing, but could also promote other housing priorities such as promoting home-ownership and building balanced communities.
Crucially, many local authorities are still also owners of property on a large scale within their Housing Revenue Accounts. Many, like H&F, have already committed to promoting new building on HRA land. Therefore, any initiative which aims to stimulate housebuilding and which does not fully embrace the contribution of local authorities risks missing out on considerable potential.
To fully exploit this potential Councils need the freedom to take local decisions about how to manage their housing assets and the receipts they generate. This could be achieved by:
In addition to the benefits of increasing housing supply through the measures outlined above, removing other restrictions on local authorities could also meet other key Government priorities for housing, such as promoting home-ownership and creating mixed communities.
These include:
In conclusion by granting the additional freedoms outlined above we believe that local authorities have the potential to play a significant role in delivering additional housing supply, whilst at the same time promoting greater levels of home-ownership and more mixed and sustainable communities.