Housing Development – On the right road
Many parts of the UK are facing a housing crisis, as the cost-of-living soars it is impacting the lives of many people and sadly Stevenage is no different.
Currently, we have over 2,000 local families on the waiting list for council housing.
We manage approximately 8,000 homes within our current housing stock and in 2015 we set up a dedicated Housing Development service to increase the number of properties available for rent to Stevenage residents.
This innovative approach uses funds from selling private properties within our developments to help fund more council rented accommodation.
We’re aiming to increase the number of homes in our housing stock available for council rent and we’re working hard to increase the quality of them too.
All our new developments adhere to our 5 Star Quality Approach. This ensures all properties being constructed as part of our housing developments meet five key criteria:
- Sustainable development.
- Genuinely affordable rents.
- Tenure blind design (use the same materials for social housing and the private properties we sell).
- Makes best use of land.
- Community led consultation.
Want to know more about our current housing developments? Find all those completed so far, as well as those underway by viewing our timeline document below.
Why flats and not houses?
Tackling homelessness within Stevenage is a top priority and features high on our agenda. Building more council housing for local people and providing people with a place to call home is extremely important.
Did you know?
We have over 2,000 residents currently awaiting accommodation on the Housing Register.
Over 80% of the 2,000 residents on the Housing Register have an identified housing need of either a one or two-bedroom home. So, our most effective way to meet these needs, whilst at the same time making the best use of the Council’s limited land assets, is to build high-quality accommodation, which includes flats and apartments.
At present over 1,000 residents are currently under-occupying 3 + bedroomed properties. There are plenty of positives as to why it's worth considering downsizing, as you may be eligible to be housed in our independent living accommodation.
A great example of an independent living scheme is our current neighbourhood regeneration scheme at Kenilworth Close.
5 Star Quality Housing Development
Our 5 Star Quality approach is helping to define the characteristics of our future housing development programme, delivering superior flats and houses and creating safe environments that residents within the borough are able to call home.
Delivered through our unique Housing Development programme we’re working hard to construct all our new homes to this high standard. From planning through to construction, this approach is at the forefront of every scheme being developed, both now and in the future.
We’re committed to delivering more council housing that will contribute to increasing the quality of the homes within our housing stock.
We always aim to ensure our new-build homes are sustainably constructed with a variety of distinctive state-of-the-art technology, such as air source heat pumps, solar panels and triple glazing. Each of these aspects contributes towards us achieving a lower carbon footprint, positively impacting climate change, and reducing running costs for our tenants.
Find out more about the schemes on site as well as those delivered so far.