Council gives select committee pointers on house building

Members of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee travelled to Birmingham to learn more about the biggest new council house development programme in the UK.

Committee members met with Councillor John Lines, Cabinet Member for Housing, and senior staff from Birmingham City Council’s Homes and Neighbourhoods directorate to gather information about its work on building and financing new council houses and homes for sale.

The local authority’s new council house building programme, Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT), is a similar model to the Government’s proposed ‘Built Now Pay Later’ scheme.

The presentation by the council outlined its work since BMHT was developed in 2009, including how the model was created, how it’s managed financially, and how it works with the private sector. The information was accompanied by a guided tour of the council’s housing development projects to demonstrate how the theory works in practice.

The BMHT programme works in partnership with house building developers. It “de-risks” the development by achieving planning approval for each site and defers payment for its land until the developer has sold the home. At that point the Council takes its income and re-invests it in future schemes.

Under the scheme there are 1,340 new homes in various stages of completion.

Councillor Lines said: “I’m encouraged by today’s visit, as I’m sure this fact-finding exercise shows that BMHT is an excellent programme to replicate. It’s an innovative housing model with principals that deliver high quality homes for rent and sale.

“Not only does BMHT produce new homes for Birmingham residents, it also creates jobs for local people.

“I’m sure that taking on Birmingham’s housing model on a national scale could help to swell the wider economy, as work in the housing and construction business can playing its part in stimulating the economy and creating jobs. A recent report from a house builder’s federation shows that increasing house building in Birmingham would create 4,400 new jobs. This is a good sign of future possibilities.”