Liverpool City Council publishes 2030 housing plans
The local authority have outlined plans to support 2,000 new homes a year, tackle homelessness and reduce the number of empty properties.
Just yesterday Liverpool City Council launched the public consultation on their draft housing strategy. At the heart of the plans, which will shape a more than £1bn building programme if completed, is the local authorities aim to provide more affordable housing after they discovered that of the 10,700 new homes built in the past five years, a mere 11% are classed as affordable.
Liverpool are looking to deliver 8,000 new properties by 2027 and 20% of them will be earmarked as affordable. Likewise, the local authority will be writing to landlords of more than 8,000 empty properties as part of a review of empty homes.
The timing of this new draft strategy couldn’t have been better. At the beginning of this year, it emerged that Liverpool council’s costs for placing homeless households in temporary accommodation had increased by 10,000% in five years. What’s more, earlier this month the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed that the percentage of councils’ total housing budget being spent on homelessness and temporary accommodation has tripled since 2015.
In addition to addressing the homelessness problem, the strategy also outlines a commitment to develop brownfield sites to help deliver homes. The council is currently working on schemes including Festival Gardens, Liverpool Waters, King’s Dock and Paddington Village.
News of building on brownfield sites has come just after Chancellor Rachael Reeves outlined the Labour party will be prioritising these areas.
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool council, said: ‘The council recognises the challenges people face to get on the property ladder, which is why our new draft housing strategy has set out a target for 2,000 new homes a year, with a fifth being affordable.
‘The underlying problem of supply and demand is also at the heart of our mission, which is why we are working with a range of partners to unlock key brownfield sites and to systematically reduce the number of empty properties.
‘Together this will help kick-start a £1bn boom in housebuilding across the city, which will have a huge impact on our economy and workforce.
‘I’m confident Liverpool can get the country moving in launching a new era of quality, affordable homes.’
Cllr Sam East, cabinet member for housing, added: ‘Housing provides the cornerstone of peoples’ lives – shaping the social fabric of the places we live, our health and wellbeing, and the opportunities we have to learn, work and play.
‘Whilst the recent homelessness crisis in Liverpool has necessitated emergency action, we want this strategy to provide a longer-term framework to ensure individuals and families can always access homely and sustainable living in the future.’
‘This draft strategy reflects feedback we’ve already gathered which highlighted overwhelming support for providing more homes for social rent, improving energy efficiency and insulation on homes, and tackling homelessness and rough sleeping,’ Cllr East said. ‘We now want to hear views on the specific proposals within this draft strategy so we can improve and sharpen these proposals.’
The consultation is set to run until 6th September and can be found here.
Once this stage has passed the council will develop an action plan based on the publics reaction – the final Liverpool Housing Strategy is scheduled to be approved by the cabinet in autumn 2024.
Image: Neil Martin
‘Once-in-a-generation’ Liverpool Central station plans begin
