‘We’re determined to do everything we can to support local residents’
Hull City Council’s cabinet have approved a new strategy which seeks to boost council housing delivery in the city. The council has an ambitious target of building 840 new council homes by 2031 to tackle growing pressure.
A report presented to the cabinet explained that the city is facing “very significant demand for social housing” as in recent years the number of people presenting as homeless each year has doubled from 2000 to 4000. At the same time, the report says the amount of council housing units becoming available for re-letting each year has fallen from 1800 to 1100. “This has placed very significant pressure upon the council and social housing partner organisations in the city to identify housing,” the report adds.
The report, the recommendations of which were approved by the cabinet, recommended the council should procure a lead delivery partner for the housebuilding. This, it is said, means the council will take “a more long-term collaborative approach” to house building. It is also said that a “partnering approach will bring greater efficiencies.”
The cabinet agreed to delegate the awarding of the contract to the Executive Director of Housing, an unelected council staff member. A decision record will be published “in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for Housing and the Executive Director of Corporate Resources.”
The new framework seeks to help the council meet its Housing Growth Plan 2025-31 in which its target of delivering 840 new council homes is set out. The report says the contract with the partner would have “initial duration of 10 years, but with provision for an extension of 5 years.”
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The report provides an update on the plan to deliver 840 homes by 2031. It says: “194 homes are now contracted of the 840 target, this represents 23% of the target. A further 42 homes across 3 sites are currently out to tender, which subject to viability will take the total number of contracted homes to 236 which is 28% of the target.”
The report explains that in the summer of 2025 the council “undertook an exercise to explore interest from the market for the opportunity to work in partnership with the council to deliver homes. The council set out the vision for partners to deliver well designed modern new neighbourhoods with placemaking at their heart.” One of the key objectives set out in the council’s exercise was to “accelerate housing delivery”.
Following this, the report says the council has received 12 responses, coming from a range of organisations “including some who are already successfully delivering new homes in the city and a number of organisations that have not worked with the council previously.”
Cllr Paul Drake-Davis, the council’s portfolio holder for housing told Hull Live: “Across the country we are seeing a housing crisis. The Government have also set all councils strict housing targets to meet. Here at Hull City Council, we’re determined to do everything we can to support local residents. That means working with communities to build good quality housing.
“At the most recent cabinet meeting we saw a report pass that will help produce more and better housing for local people who we know need support. We’ll keep working hard to provide housing for those who need it, support tenants across the city and tackle the homelessness crisis.”