MK City Council announce plans for extra funding towards council house purchases

Milton Keynes City Council announced plans to invest £2.5 million towards buying additional council homes to help local families into permanent accommodation faster.

The funding proposal, which is due to be decided next week, would allow the City Council to purchase larger homes for local people who are currently in temporary accommodation.

While the City Council say that they are continuing with an ongoing programme to build new council homes, such as 183 homes recently built on The Lakes Estate in Bletchley, new developments can take several years to complete. Construction continues at Acre Lodge, where 66 new council homes will be ready in 2028. 

MK City Council said that buying homes would allow them to give local families faster access to affordable properties. The proposed investment would be funded through Right to Buy receipts, allowing the City Council to reinvest money from the sale of former council homes into new affordable housing for local residents. The City Council added that the scheme is particularly intended to be used to source larger family homes, where demand is especially high. 

The City Council added that they welcomed the Government’s recent announcement on its plans to build more homes across the country, recognising that increasing housing supply is essential to tackling the housing crisis, but they also stated they need shorter-term solutions to meet immediate demand. 

Councillor Ed Hume, Cabinet Member for Housing, said, “This investment is part of a broader approach to delivering more affordable housing in Milton Keynes. Alongside our programme of building new council homes, we’re using £2.5 million in Right to Buy receipts to acquire additional properties and help more families access settled, affordable housing. We know this will only meet a small part of the demand for housing in our city, which is why we’re constantly looking at different ways to make more homes available for the people who need them most.”

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