Sheffield councils plans £500m investment into council housing

Sheffield City Council is set to approve plans to invest £500m over the next five years to improve council housing and build new affordable homes. 

Last year Sheffield Council committed to providing 1,600 new council homes by 2023, this year this figure has been extended by an additional 1,500 homes in the next ten years.

The additional council homes will include a wider range of housing types, such as Older Persons Independent Living with Care, homes for younger people and families and homes for people with specific needs including learning disabilities.

The main priority of the investment will be to improve the existing council homes, making sure that the existing homes remain safe, modern and warm.

This investment will be funded through tenant rents and borrowing, the government is allowing the councils to increase rents, which will mean an average increase of 2.7% or £1.98 a week for Sheffield tenants.

Cllr Paul Wood, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety at Sheffield City Council, said: ‘We have ambitious plans to provide housing that gives people options, meets the demand and varying needs of our residents, and creates thriving communities.

‘The truth is there isn’t sufficient affordable housing in the city, we don’t have enough options available within our council housing stock and we need to maintain the quality of tenants’ existing homes.’

‘We re tackling all of these issues head-on, investing millions of pounds to make sure people in Sheffield have suitable, well-maintained homes that they can afford and be proud of.

‘As well as all of these benefits to our housing offer, the level of investment over the next few years will also create hundreds of employment and apprenticeship opportunities for local people, providing essential jobs and up-skilling our future tradespeople.’

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