Planning for housing

Local authority direct provision of housing

Four waves of research published in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024

Lead researchers & institution:

Janice Morphet & Ben Clifford, The Bartlett School of Planning, UCL*

* An RTPI-accredited planning school

NOTE: Findings and recommendations reflect the views of the researchers at the time of writing and are not necessarily the views of the RTPI

Key takeaways:

Most local authorities in England are directly engaged in housing provision.
They use a wide and increasingly diverse range of delivery mechanisms, including their own local housing companies, joint ventures with housing associations or developers and other councils, and through partnership with Homes England.
They are directly involved in housing provision for a range of reasons, including increased pressure to meet their housing needs and concerns about the quality and sustainability of new homes being provided by the private market.
The top three potential barriers to them directly delivering more housing are lack of land, lack of suitable sites and scheme viability concerns.

Key report recommendations (see 2024 report for full list):

Abolish the Right to Buy in England, or at least restrict it to not apply to newly built homes for 15 years, and continue the 100% retention of Right to Buy receipts by local authorities for housing delivery.
Provide additional targeted funding to support retrofit of existing homes for safety, quality and energy efficiency.
Change the Compulsory Purchase Order legislation to enable councils to acquire land for housing delivery at existing use value.

Researchers at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL have been investigating the revival of direct provision of housebuilding by local authorities in England. Led by Visiting Professor Janice Morphet and Professor Ben Clifford, their latest report, published in January 2024, reveals that most authorities across England are directly engaged in housing delivery again - having largely withdrawn from this role as a core function in the 1980s - yet several challenges are preventing the scale-up needed to meet housing need, particularly the delivery of affordable homes.

Funded by the RTPI, the 2017 project filled an important knowledge gap, with subsequent rounds having further impact. The 2024 report updates their previous findings published in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

After the demise of the local authority house-building programme in the early 1980s, the role of local authorities in housing delivery in England became focused mainly on using the planning system, for example using Section 106 agreements to negotiate the delivery of affordable homes by private developers as part of the conditions for the developers being granted planning permission.

But several factors - including new powers in the 2011 Localism Act, a long period of austerity, concerns about housing quality, and enhanced duties for all local authorities in the 2017 Homelessness Reduction Act - encouraged local authorities to consider re-engaging in direct housing delivery in various ways.

The two reports prepared following each round are freely available and will interest local authorities, central government and housing providers.

The research has been supported in a variety of ways, including by the RTPI in 2017 and 2019 through funding, and assistance from the RTPI regions in all four rounds.