A perfect storm of financial and policy pressures have pushed councils’ Housing Revenue Accounts to the brink.

This analysis, conducted by Savills’ affordable housing specialists and commissioned by the NFA, the Local Government Association and the Association of Retained Council Housing, was published at the 2024 LGA conference, a week ahead of the new government’s first budget and spending review. It explores the cumulative impact of policy and economic pressures on the ability of local authorities to maintain current housing stock and build more.

The NFA has also published a brief guide (a five-minute read) to the key points of the analysis explaining why councils have no capacity at all to contribute to the government’s ambitious goal of 1.5m new homes over the next five years and can barely sustain current levels of management.

Many councils are facing the impossible choice of whether to let HRAs go into debt or instead fail to meet statutory repair obligations. Awaab’s Law, which will add tight deadlines to the obligation to fix reported hazards such as mould and damp, is expected to be enacted within the next few weeks – and councils are already struggling to find the resources they need to meet their current obligations.