Rochdale gets on the front foot with affordable homes

The council’s cabinet will this week be asked to rubber-stamp a policy and funding commitment that will help it tackle a housing waiting list of 20,000 people.

Looking at the issue of affordable homes, officers note that the market is not delivering at scale or pace” with both the quantity and type of homes provided not up to scratch.

The recommendation is thus that the council gets on the front foot with a proactive programme, building on work it has done in collaboration with First Choice Homes Oldham and Great Places.

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Officers stated that the council “must put in place necessary strategic resources, including financing and land, within a flexible and dynamic programme to allow for an agile response to external opportunities.

“It is recommended that to allow for this a coherent and cohesive Housing Supply Programme is established, to allow for the extension of enhanced integrated working with strategic affordable housing delivery partners, as well Greater Manchester Combined Authority, other registered providers and central government.”

The recommendation is that cabinet approves a housing supply programme capital budget just shy of £4.8m for the first two years of the programme, namely 2026/27 and 2027/28.

It is also recommended that cabinet approves the commitment to working towards a cumulative £25m budget for a five-year programme – this includes identifying funding via switching out capital schemes, funding by prudential borrowing, external grants and working with partners in relation to match funding.

Council-owned land should be prioritised for affordable housing schemes, and authority given to the director of economy and place to handle disposals of council sites to registered providers as Rochdale looks to accelerate delivery.

There should be help available, through sources such as GMCA’s brownfield housing fund, and Homes England’s social affordable homes programme which has £1.2bn to £1.5n to commit nationally.

Also among the key issues set out in a report for the cabinet, which meets on 21 August, are the borough’s “significant” housing need, increased homelessness and the large number of housing applicants in temporary or supported accommodation, and a significant reduction in the availability of social housing lets.

Addressing the latter, there is a plan now in place to prioritise the top bands of people seeking housing, with a rethink on how applicants are categorised. “Rightsizing” is picked out as a key policy that is being taken up with registered providers.