Council Successful In Lobbying For Affordable Housing Funding Boost
- Reading one of a number of Council's to have actively campaigned for more housing funding
- £39bn boost for housing over the next ten years announced
- Reading Borough Council aims to use extra funding to build on its affordable housing ambitions
The Council has welcomed the recent Government announcement of a major funding boost for affordable housing nationally, after joining other local authorities in successfully lobbying for more money.
Last week the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced the Government’s new £39bn Affordable Homes Programme. Funding will be spread over a ten year period, which represents a significant increase on the previous allocation of around £2.5bn annually over five years between 2021-26.
Last year Reading Borough Council was one of many local authorities to sign up to a campaign backing a report from Southwark Council in London aimed at helping ensure Councils can provide more, and higher quality, publicly owned housing.
Southwark’s detailed report offered five solutions and more than 20 recommendations. It was signed by 112 Councils who among are responsible for 1.2 million council homes.
Matt Yeo, Lead Councillor for Housing at Reading Borough Council, said:
“This is hugely welcome news and a great boost for local councils such as Reading who are at the frontline of the acute shortage of affordable homes on offer and the knock-on impact on families and individuals, as well as on council budgets paying significant amounts for temporary accommodation.
“For many years now it has been an ambition of this council to accelerate the building of affordable housing in our town. We also know it is something which regularly comes up as a major issue in conversations with residents.
“It is heartening that our own local housing ambitions are now being mirrored by this huge boost in national funding, which in turn provides the confidence and reassurance that we can continue our commitment to creating more new affordable homes for Reading’s residents.
“We are of course hopeful that Reading will be among the local councils to benefit from this funding so we can build on our substantial success in this area to date.”
Reading Borough Council is on track to deliver 403 council homes by the end of 2025 through its local authority new build programme. This includes new developments at Lyndhurst Road, North Street and Arthur Hill and its acquisitions project.
The ambition to build more affordable homes remains a key element of the Reading’s adopted Council Plan which can be found at https://www.reading.gov.uk/the-council-and-democracy/council-strategies-plans-and-policies/corporate-plan/