Highland Council confirms it faces a £2.8 billion ‘housing challenge’ to build 24,000 new homes
Highland Council has officially declared that the region is facing what it calls a “housing challenge” but it will need at least an additional £2.8 billion to reach the more than than 24,000 new houses target needed in the next ten years.
That figure more than doubles the amount that would normally be built and is based on an updated ten-year Housing Needs Demand Assessment, which incorporates the demand likely forthcoming for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Free Port.
So the council and its partners aim to be on course to meet the challenge of building 24,000 houses over 20 years while trying to accelerate that by somehow finding the extra £2.8 billion investment to reach 24,000 homes.
Some solutions to future housing supply can be addressed through additional community benefit from the Social Value Charter from Renewables and from future retained business rates relating to the Green Free Port.
Other include the council leader Raymond Bremner writing to both Michael Gove and Angela Rayner to seek historical debt right-off which would allow more cash be put towards investment in housing.
But there will be a Housing Challenge summit with partners at some point in the future where the “Housing Challenge Action Plan” will be developed and other objectives like levering finance from different means will be explored.
Other issues that will come up will be the varied mechanisms to build new housing; flexibility regarding the ownership of housing; and finding new ways to maximise the supply of land.
Convener Bill Lobban said: “Affordable housing is an issue that is raised everywhere we speak to communities across the Highlands. For this reason, it is a high priority in the Council’s Programme and Members today have declared a Highland Housing Challenge.
“There are also many wider socio-economic benefits in providing more housing, including boosting the construction industry, regeneration of town centres and reversing depopulation of communities. The economic benefits continue over the longer term, through savings on housing benefit, and wider benefits including reduced homelessness, increased employment, and improved health benefits.”
Council leader Raymond Bremner said: “I have recently written to the Government to raise the issue of the Council’s Housing Revenue Account historic debt on the basis that other local authorities have had some success in this.
“Any debt write-off will be essential in freeing up investment which can be directed towards increasing the supply of affordable new build housing to meet the increasing demands of our communities.”
