Sheffield reveals council housing plans for next five years

Sheffield City Council’s plans for council housing over the next five years will focus on building more houses, maintaining and improving tenants’ homes and improving energy efficiency.

The Council announced that an additional £310m will be spent on major improvements to existing council homes on top of the £40m that is spent on day-to-day council house repairs each year.

A further £339m is expected to be spent on increasing the supply of new homes, bringing the total investment in council housing to £650.

This £650 million will be the largest Council Housing investment programme the city will have seen since the national Decent Homes Programme.

Cllr Paul Wood, Executive Member for Housing, Roads and Waste Management, said: ‘We are well underway to see 3,100 new council homes by 2039 and we’re making sure that there are more houses of the right type and in the right places. We’re on target with this building work and the planning that goes with it and this is really good news.

‘We know housing repairs is a big issue. We’re committed to getting this right and delivering for tenants and as part of our ‘better repairs project’ we will tackle the backlog, which was largely driven by the impacts of the pandemic. The climate emergency is a big issue and our plan is responding accordingly, by providing better energy efficiency, making homes warmer and keeping bills down.

‘One of our challenges is the huge increase in energy bills which will have both an impact on the community heating charge and on all tenants because of the increases in costs from energy suppliers. In response, we have increased the council’s HRA hardship fund to support our most vulnerable households affected by inflationary increases.

‘It’s so important for people to keep safe and warm for health and wellbeing, so we will do what we can to address the struggles that many families in the city will face due to these energy increases.’

In related news, proposals to invest £1.8bn in council homes have been unveiled by Bristol City Council, that could see over 2,000 new homes built in the next seven years.

Photo supplied by Sheffield City Council