READING Borough Council has welcomed the recent announcement of a funding boost for affordable housing by the government.
It comes after the council was one of many local authorities lobbying for more funding through a campaign aimed at improving publicly-owned housing availability.
The campaign came in support for Southwark Council, which released a report offering five solutions to improving the level of affordable, publicly-owned housing, as well as a further 20 recommendations.
In total, 112 councils–responsible for more than a million council homes between them-to sign up to the campaign.
Last week the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced the Government’s new £39bn Affordable Homes Programme.
Funding will be spread over a ten year period, which represents a “significant” increase on the previous allocation of around £2.5bn annually over five years between 2021-26.
Reading Borough Council is currently on track to deliver more than 400 council homes by the end of 2025 through its local authority new build programme, including new developments at Lyndhurst Road, North Street, and Arthur Hill, as well as its acquisitions project.
Matt Yeo, Lead Councillor for Housing at Reading Borough Council, said: “This is hugely welcome news and a great boost for local councils such as Reading who are at the frontline of the acute shortage of affordable homes on offer and the knock-on impact on families and individuals, as well as on council budgets paying significant amounts for temporary accommodation.
“For many years now it has been an ambition of this council to accelerate the building of affordable housing in our town.
“We also know it is something which regularly comes up as a major issue in conversations with residents.”
He explained: “It is heartening that our own local housing ambitions are now being mirrored by this huge boost in national funding, which in turn provides the confidence and reassurance that we can continue our commitment to creating more new affordable homes for Reading’s residents.
“We are of course hopeful that Reading will be among the local councils to benefit from this funding so we can build on our substantial success in this area to date.”
