West Midlands Affordable Housing Campaign Receives a Blow

Posted under Blog by Ruth

The campaign in the West Midlands to build affordable council-run homes has suffered a huge blow in the form of £20 million.

Allocation has been cut from a total of £74 million to just £54 million next year. The Regional Housing Executive (RHE) is responsible for the upgrade of homes in the area, and was told that the government is reducing its allocation.

Birmingham is losing around £14 million. This cash had been planned to be spent on modernizing private sector and council properties, by installing double glazing and central heating to help homes be more energy efficient and to save residents on running costs.

The chairman of the Regional Housing Executive, John Lines, is writing to the government to try and secure a much better deal for the housing authorities in the region.

Lines is also the housing chief of Birmingham City Council, and stated that ‘this is a serious matter’ for the people living in the area, as well as many local authorities around the region, who will all suffer due to the cuts.

Lines is working on gathering local authorities together to demand action from the government, to help them in their plans to deliver affordable homes to local people.