Councils in London say housebuilding viability has got worse over the past year, despite progress on building safety issues, according to a new annual review published this week.
The findings come from the second annual review of the ‘1.5M New Homes: The Local Government Challenge’ campaign, launched at the Housing Forum’s National Conference in London. Of the 16 councils that responded to the survey — all in London or other high-pressure areas with strong housing need — half said viability had worsened over the past year, while the other half said there had been no change. None reported an improvement.
Funding the main constraint
The review concluded that funding remains the “main constraint” on how many homes councils can deliver, especially at social rent. Last year the campaign identified 10 challenges that, if resolved, would do the most to speed up council housebuilding; this year’s review asked 19 councils and delivery bodies whether each had got better, worse or stayed the same.
The report also recognised its own limits: the sample is “self-selecting”, because the councils most keen to talk about housing delivery are those most interested in doing it, and “not every council shares this drive”.
Context
The review lands as the prime minister has committed to the “biggest council housebuilding since the post-war era”, with councils ordered to review their development plans and “scale up now”. London Councils separately reported a pipeline of 50,000 potential new council homes across the capital — but warned that £12.3bn in grant funding would be needed to unlock it, against £11.7bn currently allocated.
Viability pressures are not the only issue: building safety regulation and market stability/investment confidence ranked as the third and fourth biggest barriers to delivery.
Read more of our housing coverage: Croydon’s £1.79m transport funding and Havering’s HMO crackdown.
