Rotherham Council to buy 100 homes as waiting list for council properties tops 6,500

As of March 31 2023, there were 6,572 households waiting for a council property – and this number is increasing.

An extra 484 council homes have been acquired by the council since 2018 – but this is not enough to meet demand, as 6,572 households are still on the waiting list.

An average of 51 bids were made for each council home last year, and 802 homes were lost as a result of the right to by scheme.

Officers warn that demand for council properties will increas in the face of the cost of living crisis, and properties are needed to house care leavers, unaccompanied asylum seeking children and the homeless population.

Councillor Chris Read, leader of Rotherham Council, told a cabinet meeting on October 16: “Councils everywhere for the last 30 years have faced this challenge….in terms of declining council stock. In Rotherham we have lost something like 20,000 properties…that would once have been available for council rent that are now in private hands.

The council aims to acquire 100 homes by 31 March 2026 for use as council properties, in a bid to house those on the waiting list.

First refusal is already given to the council when a house bought through the right to buy scheme comes back on the market with ten years, and RMBC will also consider buying properties on the open market, housing association properties that are no longer required and empty homes in the borough.