Turning housing ambition into local government delivery

Far from letting an early prime ministerial promise stall, Andy Burnham recently followed up his vow to end rough sleeping with a directive to ‘get everyone in for Christmas'. Meanwhile, he wants to deliver the ‘biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period', when 1.2 million homes were built by Clement Attlee's government between 1946 and 1951.Such ambitions are extraordinarily bold, but to execute, will require reforms to equip local authorities with the legal, financial and operational tools they need.The scale of the challengeOn a single night in autumn 2025, 4,793 people were estimated to be sleeping rough in England. According to the latest Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) data, that is a 96% increase in five years.A £442m package, confirmed last month to provide emergency accommodation to homeless people over the winter, tops up the £3.5bn already allocated to homelessness services. Like many of Burnham's early policies, there is proof of concept for this in Greater Manchester from his time as mayor.The ‘Bed Every Night' scheme he established now provides more than 600 beds for people in Greater Manchester who might otherwise be on the streets. And, the ‘Everyone In' scheme during the pandemic temporarily housed about 37,000 people, with about a quarter going on to find settled accommodation.However, money alone cannot end rough sleeping. ‘Everyone In' revealed gaps in local authorities' powers to house rough sleepers. MHCLG advice during the pandemic encouraged local authorities to offer accommodation to all, while acknowledging the law on eligibility remained unchanged. Consequently, many councils had to rely on emergency public health powers to accommodate every rough sleeper.Where rough sleepers are ineligible for homelessness assistance on account of their immigration status, are intentionally homeless or not in priority need, councils have limited powers to provide only advice and assistance.Other powers are available under the Children Act 1989, NHS Act 2006 and Care Act 2014 for certain rough sleepers, such as families with children and those with particular health and care needs, but these do not provide a solution in every case.To truly end rough sleeping in every area, the Government must legislate to create new powers or to remove restrictions on existing powers, accompanied by new burdens funding. Partnerships between local government and trusted voluntary and community organisations involved in supporting homeless people will be key, as many rough sleepers have complex needs, require specialist accommodation or are distrustful of the state.Neighbourhood working could provide a framework for service integration, with a sharper focus on early intervention and prevention and localised responses to place-based inequalities.Unlocking council housebuildingMany local authorities are already expanding their existing housing stock through estate regeneration projects, new development programmes and targeted acquisitions. Others are taking steps to become stock-holding authorities again, reversing the housing divestment trend that has persisted since the late 1980s.But councils urgently need clarity from MHCLG and the Department for Work and Pensions on how housing benefit and subsidy rules will be applied to the innovative solutions that councils are developing. This would help them to accurately model the long-term impact of investment and commit the necessary borrowing. Government can also support councils to go further and faster by giving them greater flexibility in how they manage their resources.Many local authorities' housing revenue accounts (HRAs) are under extreme pressure. The capital funding requirements and ringfencing rules that are designed to ensure HRAs do not fall into deficit are preventing authorities from borrowing.Relaxing this regime would allow the sharing of savings from homelessness budgets between general funds and the HRA. This would put HRAs on a more sustainable footing while unlocking new council housebuilding funded through prudential borrowing.The role of private capitalBurnham has mooted diverting some of the £39bn allocated to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-36 to fund new council housebuilding. But this feels like robbing Peter to pay Paul.While public subsidy is inevitably part of the solution, and registered providers clearly have a vital and established role in delivering new social and affordable homes, the deals we are now working on suggest the Government should be looking to institutional investors and pension funds to bridge the gap between ambition and delivery.We are seeing institutional investors and pension funds working with local authorities through housing partnerships, often in tandem with commercial delivery partners, to deliver new council housing.These projects, while challenging, have the potential to deliver new social housing at a scale and pace that could not be achieved through traditional delivery models. A modern public-private partnership framework that learns from perceived drawbacks with previous models like PFI and PF2, could effectively unlock private capital for new social infrastructure like council homes.Such enabling frameworks, alongside legislative reform and genuine financial flexibility for councils, can help deliver the Prime Minister's hugely ambitious agenda to solve one of the defining challenges of our time.Victoria Searle is a principal associate specialising in public law and housing at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson

Title

HOUSING

Turning housing ambition into local government delivery

By Victoria Searle | 02 September 2026

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