Ensuring residents have access to quality, affordable, and safe accommodation remains among this council’s most important objectives.
Every individual deserves a secure place to live, raise children, and establish roots. This should not be unattainable for so many people; it ought to be a fundamental entitlement.
Unfortunately, Brighton and Hove, similar to the rest of the nation, is experiencing an enduring housing shortage, with appropriate dwellings in critically short supply. This leaves many residents urgently needing a place they can settle into with dignity and stability.
Consequently, the council is making every effort to expand local housing availability.
This encompasses continued work to counteract the most severe effects of the controversial Right to Buy program. Under Right to Buy, properties constructed as municipal housing were sold to occupants at prices below market value, with substantial discounts provided to tenants through the government initiative.
Many of those sold properties were family residences that councils could ill afford to release from their housing inventory. Yet lose them they did. Local authorities were unable to prevent the exit of crucial housing stock from public ownership as a direct consequence of the policy enacted by the Thatcher administration in 1980.
The ramifications have been substantial and continue to be felt today, with authorities like our own left with diminished housing options for residents while demand rises annually.
Numerous properties sold under Right to Buy were subsequently transformed by property owners into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
The result? Reduced council housing, fewer family homes overall, and enormous strain placed on both social housing waiting lists and the local property market.
However, this council is taking decisive action to address this reality.
The authority recently acquired three HMOs in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, which are now being transformed into family residences; one will serve as temporary housing.
These buildings were originally constructed as council housing during the 1930s through 1950s and were sold through Right to Buy. Now they have returned to public ownership and are being utilized for their original purpose – supporting local families.
The council has repurchased 100 former council properties lost through Right to Buy since April 2025, utilizing the Home Purchase Policy. Since 2017, the total number of properties acquired by this council exceeds 500.
Hundreds of homes have returned to council control and are once again available for local families.
All properties repurchased under this flagship policy are advertised to residents through Homemove, our social housing platform, or directly allocated as temporary accommodation for households facing urgent housing needs.
The Home Purchase Policy has enabled us to add numerous much-needed family homes and temporary accommodation to the council’s housing stock.
And the work continues. This is merely the beginning.
The council recently obtained an additional £9.2 million in government funding to assist in delivering 46 more homes across the city over the coming four years.
And that represents only our efforts to address the historical damage caused by Right to Buy.
Throughout the city, ambitious, contemporary, council-directed housing projects are underway, intended not only to expand affordable and socially rented housing options but also to build and strengthen local communities.
In Moulsecoomb, a lively new community center and over 200 sustainable new council homes are being constructed on underutilized land. Construction has commenced, and the design, created collaboratively with local residents, has received significant praise within the housing and community development sectors.
Across the city in Hove, planning approval has been secured for 306 new affordable homes on Sackville Road through the council’s Homes for Brighton & Hove partnership with Hyde. The project comprises 183 council-rented homes and 123 homes for shared ownership, with construction scheduled to begin this spring.
In Portslade, work has commenced on over 40 new affordable apartments and a community center on and adjacent to the Portslade Village Centre site.
Each project prioritizes sustainability and community. We are not merely constructing more buildings. We are creating more homes, new communities, and spaces where residents can flourish.
These three projects alone will add over 500 homes to our inventory. Combined with the more than 500 homes already added, that represents more than 1,000 homes that will be available to local people, local families, and those in greatest need. And additional projects are planned.
The housing shortage is far from resolved. This council faces mounting pressures; over 2,000 households have approached us for housing assistance in the past year, contributing to escalating costs in areas such as temporary and emergency accommodation.
And we recognize that, situated between the sea and the South Downs, matching housing supply with demand will always present challenges in this city.
A decent, secure, affordable home should not be a luxury; it should be a basic right everyone deserves.
I am proud this council is doing everything in its power to make that right a reality; we are confronting these challenges directly and will continue with unwavering determination to construct and acquire as many much-needed homes for our residents as possible.
Councillor Gill Williams is