Housing company to build 10,000 new homes and create 2,000 jobs

Liverpool City Council is to set up a ground-breaking, ethical housing company to deliver 10,000 new homes across the city, including bespoke properties for the homeless, foster carers, large families, the elderly and people with a disability.

A report to the council’s cabinet today (December 15) is recommending the authority create the company, to be called Foundations, in a bid to dramatically shake up the city’s housing market and accelerate the rent to buy sector over the coming decade by offering packages that take a percentage from rent towards a deposit.

The Mayor of Liverpool is proposing the radical plan as the city needs 27,000 new homes by 2030 with surveys showing housing supply dominated by small terraced houses, which skews the city’s council tax revenues.

Fuelled by an estimated £500m investment programme Foundations will also enable the council to future proof the housing market for an ageing population, ensuring people can live independently for longer and provide intermediary accommodation that help keeps people out of long-term hospital stays.

Foundations, which is predicted to also create 2,000 new jobs, is one of the main pledges by Mayor Joe Anderson who wants to revolutionise the council’s housing role to bolster home ownership and for the local authority to act as a “high quality, ethical landlord” to help build sustainable neighbourhoods and offer tenants security of tenure.

The new properties would include:
Bespoke new housing for people who want to downsize, releasing larger homes for families.
Filling a significant gap in the city for larger homes, especially for families who want to become foster parents, reducing the pressure on the city’s caring provision for children.
New homes in supported environments for the homeless, rough sleepers and those with addiction problems.
Affordable rents, which help people save for their deposit to buy the house they are living in.
Adaptable housing which suits those with disabilities or changing needs due to their age, or can be easily converted in the future, saving the council in social care costs.

By establishing Foundations, the council’s intervention will also help reduce properties becoming void and reduce the chances of properties being converted into inappropriate houses in multiple occupation.

Anderson said: “Liverpool is a growing city and we need to create an exciting housing sector which meets the needs of our people. We need a wider range of properties to suit a growing range of scenarios, but crucially also help people own their home.

“This new housing company will radically reshape Liverpool’s housing market and is called Foundations because that is precisely what it will provide for generations of people.”