Bexley council among the best in England for affordable housing delivery, Shelter’s Housing League Table reveals
Bexley council ranks among the best in the country for delivering enough affordable homes to meet local need, housing charity Shelter has found.
Shelter’s Housing League Table, launched today, analysed the performance of 323 councils in England in providing affordable housing and Bexley council was ranked fifth.
Local authorities are responsible for identifying the housing need in their area and for ensuring enough affordable homes are provided to meet this need. Bexley council is required to provide 169 affordable homes a year and last year delivered 233.
It was one of only eight councils in England to deliver more than its annual requirement of affordable homes.
Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb said: “We know that the recession has created a difficult climate for house building, but the work of Bexley council clearly shows that by working creatively with their partners local authorities can deliver affordable homes.
“However, with nearly 6,500 households on the waiting list in Bexley it is vital that the council continues to keep building these desperately needed homes.
The findings are part of Shelter’s Housing League Table, a new one-stop-shop website that provides local housing data including house prices, housing waiting lists and levels of housing delivery. The website also ranks councils according to their current levels of affordable housing delivery against their analysis of housing need. These rankings can be found at: www.shelter.org.uk/housingleaguetabledata
Shelter hopes the website will provide councillors and the public with information about the need for affordable housing, with the league tables updated annually to enable the public to hold the council to account.
Mr Robb added: “We hope members of the public will use this information to get in touch with their council and make their views on the need to deliver more affordable homes known.
“Councils must also be supported by significant Government cash so they can deliver desperately needed affordable homes. That’s why in the current financial climate, and with council budgets set to be slashed, it is vital that all political parties make affordable housing a long-term top priority.”
