Southampton City Council approves first Affordable Housing Framework sites

Today (Tuesday 20 December) Southampton City Council approved the first set of council-owned sites to be transferred to Affordable Housing Providers as part of the new Affordable Housing Framework which was approved at Cabinet earlier this year

This is one of the tools the council will use to ensure more affordable homes in the city which includes continuing to work towards the direct delivery of council homes.

The framework will allow the council to use its own land to address the significant need for affordable housing in Southampton and will provide the opportunity for development of social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership properties which will help people get onto the housing ladder and own a share in their home.

The first set of council-owned sites are either vacant sites, empty buildings or have an approved decommissioning plan in place meaning that delivery of the much-needed new homes can be achieved quicker. The first set of sites will provide an estimated total of up to 300 homes.

The council anticipates that several providers will be appointed and the framework ready to move forward early in 2023.

As of October 2022, there were a total of 7,508 households on the housing register with wait times ranging from 1 year and 4 months up to over 11 years. The council has set a target to increase the supply of affordable housing by 8,000 homes by 2040 which will help to reduce the wait times for those on the housing register.

Councillor Lisa Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Housing and the Green Environment, said: 

“We know that poor quality housing has a significant impact on residents’ health and wellbeing, which is why it is so important that we provide good quality affordable housing so our residents can achieve a high-quality life and we enable people to live independently for longer by supporting their mental and physical wellbeing.

“The new affordable housing framework will accelerate the delivery of new homes and help us work towards our commitment to providing at least 8,000 affordable homes by 2040.

“We will work with Affordable Housing Providers to build new homes and work in collaboration with partners to provide more affordable housing and build better, stronger and more resilient neighbourhoods that foster city pride”.