Hull City Council’s Cabinet has adopted its Housing Growth Strategy for 2025-2031, which outlines its plans to facilitate the delivery of 5,958 new homes to the city’s housing stock. Of these homes, 1,452 will be in the more affordable homes category in order to meet identified need, it is estimated 800 will be for rent from the council and the remainder for sale or rent on the open market.
Hull has a strong track record in providing new homes with developers through its Citywide Lead Developer Partnership, the Ings Development Agreement and its commitment to working with small-and-medium-sized contractors. Other key development partners include registered social housing providers and community-led housing organisations. These partnerships have delivered an average of 702 new homes over the past ten years. However, the Government’s recent review of housing targets, nationally, via its National Policy Framework, published in December 2024, has increased Hull’s housing target from 620 to 993 new homes per year.
Hull Housing Growth Strategy has three main objectives: to increase the overall number of homes across the city; to increase the number of affordable homes; and to grow the size of the council’s own housing stock.
To meet these objectives in housing growth, the new strategy identifies the following key actions:
- Engagement by developers, landowners and housing operators in the call for sites ahead of a new Local Plan being adopted in 2027. This will identify key housing growth areas.
- Encourage developers and funders to engage with the council where they believe they can deliver viable housing-led schemes on a council-owned asset, in line with the council’s Land and Property asset Disposals Programme 2024-27.
- Enable the development of a strategic housing partnership to act as a housing sounding board for the Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) when it is introduced later this year.
- Agreeing an approach to acquiring section 106 new build units through the planning system and, where possible, agreeing a section 106 quality standard which is future proofed to meet the quality requirements demand of social housing stock.
The new strategy is set to increase delivery of council homes to 800. Achieving this will involve the council’s current Council Housing Building Programme using the method which is most appropriate for each site.
Actions to build more council homes include:
- Identifying developable small sites across the city, in consultation with local communities.
- Acquiring existing properties, such as those in need of repair and bringing empty homes back into use.
Introducing the new Housing Growth Strategy, Councillor Paul Drake-Davis, cabinet portfolio holder for regeneration and housing, said: “The housing and homeless crisis in the UK shows no sign of waning.
“Feedback from residents during the consultation for Hull’s Community Plan clearly showed that the top priority is having somewhere safe, comfortable and affordable to live.
“The strategy sets out how we will facilitate this through a comprehensive approach that will address economic development, environmental impacts and deliver sustainable homes and communities.”
