Andy Burnham faces funding challenge for housing pledge
Andy Burnham is at risk of failing to deliver his flagship pledge to oversee the “biggest council housebuilding drive since the postwar period” if he does not provide £7bn of extra funding, a new report has warned, reports BritPanorama.
The Prime Minister promised a “historic council housebuilding comeback” shortly after he returned to parliament following his victory in the Makerfield by-election. Since then, he has pledged more than £40bn for the 10-year social and affordable homes programme (SAHP), including an additional £1.5bn unveiled at this week’s Budget.
However, a report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) cautions that Burnham risks falling short of his promise unless he allocates a further £7bn boost to the programme during the next spending review.
The homelessness charity Shelter reacted by stating that the Budget funding boost “falls short” of what is required to tackle the country’s housing crisis. Additionally, charity Crisis has called for the government to “shift gear” to meet its targets for social housing.
The NEF report, seen by The Independent, projects an average of 18,000 social homes to be built annually over the next decade; however, experts assert that at least 90,000 new social homes are needed each year to meet current demand. During the peak in the 1970s, English local authorities built an average of 103,000 homes annually, but in the five years leading up to 2025, only 2,000 were completed each year.
The NEF report highlights that current delivery plans will only achieve a “fraction of the post-war peak in new social housing,” urging that the SAHP must be scaled up “if the government is serious about delivering record post-war levels of social housing.”
Molly Harris, senior researcher at NEF, stated: “Investing in new social homes is our only way of solving the housing crisis for good.” She emphasized that households stuck on waiting lists are facing overcrowding, unaffordable rent, or years in temporary accommodation. “The Prime Minister clearly understands the importance of social homes, with councils at the forefront, but this month’s budget and next year’s spending review need to back this up with hard cash,” she added.
If the extra £7bn of funding is allocated by the end of the spending review, with more spent earlier in the programme, the report suggests that the SAHP could fund over 100,000 new council and social homes by 2030. This growth rate would put England on track to build the desired 90,000 homes annually by 2032-33.
Mairi MacRae, acting chief executive of Shelter, stated that building social homes at scale is “paramount,” urging the government to provide additional funding to “do even more.” She pointed out that councils once delivered hundreds of thousands of social homes, but decades of poor political choices have depleted this supply. “The funding boost in the Budget to build more is a significant investment but falls short of what’s needed to meet the country’s dire housing need,” she remarked.
MacRae insisted that to achieve the largest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period, the government must enhance funding for the SAHP and address historical housing debts that hinder council building efforts. She called on the government to reconsider its fiscal framework to unlock necessary investment.
The Conservatives responded by stating that the report indicates the Prime Minister and Housing Minister Angela Rayner are “once again making promises without any real plan for delivery.” Shadow Housing Secretary Katie Lam expressed concerns about the cost of Labour’s plans and the uncertainty of funding sources, suggesting it may lead to tax increases and more borrowing.
In a related observation, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) reiterated the need for the government to build more social homes to fulfil its commitments, estimating that a return to 1980s council housebuilding would require at least 22,000 additional homes each year, costing between £3bn and £4bn annually.
In his Budget announcement, John Healey indicated the provision of over £1bn for social and affordable housing, alongside enhanced powers and funding for England’s mayors and regional leaders. These measures are designed to stimulate economic growth across the country and leverage the “untapped and wasted” potential in English cities and regions.
Jasmine Basran, head of policy at Crisis, acknowledged that while the investment in the SAHP is a “significant step forward,” the government needs to act decisively to build more homes. “Over the past few decades, we’ve come nowhere close to this number,” she noted, referring to the need for 90,000 homes a year. “We need to shift gears and start to see new social rent homes being built at pace and scale.”
Senior analyst Maurice Lange from the Centre for Cities think tank commented that the government must increase spending to fulfil Burnham’s pledge. He emphasized that making it easier to build will require regulatory reforms and tough fiscal decisions, stating, “There are a lot of people living in dire or incredibly expensive or both housing conditions.”
The Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government has been contacted for a comment.
