Local Authorities’ Role in Housing Supply

BSHF has highlighted the vital role of local authorities in addressing housing undersupply in the report More Homes and Better Places: Solutions to address the scale of housing need.

To support local authorities in this role, we have produced a research briefing, highlighting the key recommendations from More Homes and Better Places and demonstrating the benefits of these.

Why do we need more homes?

The UK is facing a chronic and worsening problem of undersupply, with insufficient homes being built to meet the nation’s growing needs.

This housing shortage has a wide range of impacts on individual households, the economy and society as a whole. This affects local areas in different ways, and a range of responses are required at the local level – as well as the national level – to tackle these issues.

What can local authorities do?

The key recommendation of the briefing is that local authorities should take a leading, pro-active role in housing development in their area. Taking a leading role includes:

• Engaging in land assembly, parcelling out land to different providers
• Developing new settlements in partnership with private enterprise
• Supporting community-scale models of development
• Having a clearer understanding of long-term housing need

In addition to downloading this briefing, the full report, More Homes and Better Places: Solutions to address the scale of housing need, is available for free download or to purchase in hard copy.