Sheffield houses: £283m plan for 1,000 council homes unveiled as waiting list tops 20,000

More than 1,000 council homes will be built or acquired in Sheffield in the next five years to meet "unprecedented" demand.

The city council has allocated £283m to the project - as more than 20,000 people wait to be housed.

The authority aims to build 147 homes on two sites at Newstead, next to Birley Moor Road and 36 apartments at Bole Hill View, Crookes. There are an additional 275 homes in the pipeline, it says. There are also plans to buy 417 properties.

In total the council plans to build or acquire 1,012 homes by 2029.

There were 20,848 people waiting for a council house, according to Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the council's housing committee in July 2022. Of that, some 8,474 were "actively bidding" with 60 per cent "not necessarily in active need".

The authority has nearly 39,000 council houses but more than 900 are empty.

Coun Tom Hunt, leader of Sheffield City Council, said: "Sheffield is a growing city and we know we need to build new homes of all types to meet the needs of a growing population. We will work with partners in the public and private sector to make this happen and there is a lot of work taking place to increase housing growth in our city."

The project would also create jobs and training opportunities as part of the council’s procurement arrangements, he added.

Coun Hunt also said they hoped partners, such as housing associations, could "deliver" 600 homes for rent 2024/5.