News / Housing
Number of new affordable homes built in Bristol hits 20-year high
More new affordable homes will have been built in Bristol this year than any other year over the past two decades.
14,500 new homes have been built in the city since 2016, including 2,000 this financial year.
Labour has promised thousands of new homes over the next few years, to tackle Bristol’s housing crisis. Leading Labour figures have said the best way to beat the housing crisis is simply building many more new homes.
is needed now More than ever
However, other measures show the city is still suffering from high rents that are unaffordable for many, with several thousand people waiting for social housing. Councillors were given the latest figures on new homes during a public meeting of the member forum on March 12.
Tom Renhard, cabinet member for housing delivery and homelessness, said: “I’m really pleased to share that we’re on track to deliver 14,500 homes over the eight years of this administration.
“We’re expecting to deliver around 600 affordable homes this year, which we believe to be the best result in two decades in the city.
“So we’re really seeing affordable housing and housing delivery continue to ramp up, despite what has been some significant economic challenges with construction, inflation, Covid, the war in Ukraine and so on. It’s really good news for us and we’ll continue that work.”
Labour has pledged to build a further 3,000 new council homes over the next five years, as well as thousands of other new homes. Council bosses also recently decided to set up a second housing company, to provide temporary accommodation for people facing homelessness.
Meanwhile, hundreds of council homes have been left empty, on average for three months in between tenancies. At the start of March, there were 336 empty homes owned by the council, the majority of which were undergoing repairs. A massive backlog of properties where repairs are yet to start has reduced from 114 to only 19.
The percentage of Bristolians satisfied with the cost of their rent or mortgage payments is plummeting, according to the council’s annual quality of life survey. These results show 41 per cent are satisfied, down from 49 per cent in 2022, 59 per cent in 2021, and 60 per cent in 2020.
Since 2020, the number of people living in vehicles in Bristol has shot up, largely due to the unaffordable cost of renting. The city now has the highest number of people living in vehicles, estimated at about 800, of all local authority areas across England.
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Bristol Design
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