Regional mayors across England get billions in new funding to build affordable and social homes, with local leaders gaining control over housing development for the first time. Housing Secretary Steve Reed shifts funding away from central government control, empowering mayors to shape construction based on community needs.
West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker will work with Homes England to deliver new housing, with his region receiving £1.7 billion and an additional £26.1 million to transform wasteland into homes. Birmingham, Dudley, and Solihull councils get £500,000 through the Council Housebuilding Support Fund. Parker said: "For too long there's been chronic underinvestment in social and affordable housing." He added: "That's blighted thousands of West Midlands families who have been left struggling to pay expensive private sector rents or stuck in temporary accommodation that can often be poor quality."
Yorkshire Gets Equal Investment
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin receives £1 billion while South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard gets £700 million in a 10-year programme requiring at least 60% social rent homes. York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith gets £7 million for 300 homes. Reed told The Yorkshire Post: "Whitehall will stop telling Yorkshire what's good for local people, because we're now saying to local leaders they can shape spending on new affordable and social homes based on what their communities need."
Coppard told The Yorkshire Post the funding is "[...] game-changing for us; giving us the opportunity to clear hundreds of derelict sites and build thousands of homes."
Brabin told The Yorkshire Post: "With council house waiting lists and private rents at breaking point, addressing the housing crisis is the most fundamental step our government could take to build a brighter Britain." An additional £150 million package will fund brownfield site development, aiming for over 4,000 new homes.
Warm Homes Budget Under Pressure
Separately, Labour ministers are exploring plans to redirect £6.4 billion from the £13.2 billion Warm Homes Plan budget for immediate energy bill relief. Annabel Rice, senior political adviser at Green Alliance, criticized the potential cuts: "If the Government is serious about lowering people's bills for good, they must invest in insulating our homes, not raid schemes that have helped families lower their energy costs to make their sums add up in the Budget." Approximately 12.1 million British households currently struggle with unaffordable energy bills.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
