Tracy Brabin: 'I grew up in a council estate - Andy Burnham's social housing plans are personal'
West Yorkshire will receive £441 million for new homes
Tracy Brabin has welcomed the Prime Minister’s plans to deliver 4,000 new council, social and affordable homes in West Yorkshire.
The Mayor of West Yorkshire said the issue is “personal” for her, having grown up in a council estate.
A share of nearly £10 billion has been allocated to councils and housing associations in the first wave of Government funding to boost “genuinely affordable homes”, it has been announced today.
The Government said 60% of the new homes delivered will be for social rent, a target in line with plans when the £39 billion social and affordable homes programme was launched in 2025 under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
The funding being announced is focused on enabling the delivery of more than 70,000 homes across England by 33 “strategic partners”.
Councils outside London have been given the status as strategic partners for the first time and are expected to provide new housing at scale, helping more families to access a secure home.
West Yorkshire will receive £441 million for 4,000 homes.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “It’s unacceptable that families across West Yorkshire are having to put up with temporary accommodation, with hundreds of children without a safe and secure place to call home.
“As someone who grew up in a council estate, for me this is personal. I want every child in West Yorkshire to have that same stable foundation that I had growing up.
“With almost half a billion pounds of investment, we will deliver thousands of much-needed council and social homes across our great region, creating a more secure and affordable West Yorkshire for local families.”
The Prime Minister is set to give mayors new powers to take control of local planning decisions and green-light large-scale developments.
More funding is expected to flow directly to mayoral authorities as the social and affordable homes programme develops over its 10-year duration.
With almost 180,000 children growing up without a permanent home, the Government is putting councils at the heart of housebuilding, it said.
Andy Burnham has pledged the largest council housebuilding programme since the post-war era to tackle the severe housing shortages and homelessness.
He said: “No child should be raised in a hostel room and no family should wait 10 years for a front door of their own. I have said from my first day in this job that everything starts with a good home.
“Nearly £10 billion will go to councils and housing associations to build genuinely affordable homes, most of them for social rent, in the places where families are waiting longest.
“Councils built this country out of a housing crisis once before. Backed properly, and trusted to get on with it, they will do it again.”