August 23, 2018 11.32 am This story is over 76 months old

New builds to help Lincoln housing crisis

Meeting Lincoln’s housing needs

Several hundred properties will be built to tackle Lincoln’s housing crisis and get people out of overcrowded conditions, said the city council leader.

It follows a story this week, which revealed that existing council tenants were set to be given priority over an upcoming 172 properties.

Council leader Ric Metcalfe told Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines that the new builds were the ‘latest tranche’ of a three-year plan to build 400 homes by 2020.

He said: “The council has been committed for several years to addressing Lincoln’s housing crisis.

“We’ve got a couple of thousand of people on our waiting list for council housing, and we know how difficult it is for people in Lincoln to buy because incomes aren’t at a level where people can afford to buy.”

He said the new policy will allow people in overcrowded conditions in council properties to move to a larger property, or downsize if a three-bedroom property had become too much.

This, he said, then opens up those properties for the rest of those on the waiting list to get the kinds of homes they need, calling it a ‘win-win’ situation.

He said so far the council had been building many dozens of houses on a limited budget and by working with partners, but added: “We’ll see a further several hundred properties being completed over the next year or two and even after that.”

He pointed to a proposed new housing company which he said would help to balance the council housing with the Government’s scheme which allows tenants to buy their homes.

He hoped this would give hope to all who needed a council house, including those currently living in housing association properties.

However, he added: “There is a huge amount of competition unfortunately for a very, very scarce resource and people are waiting now a very long time.

“But this new building programme does indeed give people some hope that we can start to get the waiting list moving again and start to meet the needs of existing tenants who are in very overcrowded conditions.”

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