Having a secure roof over your head and a warm, comfortable home is fundamental to health and well-being. Good housing enables families to flourish, children to thrive and older people to live in dignity. Norwich Labour has a proud record of providing homes and this is something we are committed to continuing, despite the Tory government attacks and cuts to local government.

A Labour City Council will:

1. Build on the success of the council house schemes at Goldsmith Street, Threescore, and Bullard Road by continuing our proud tradition of building good quality council homes. More than 200 new council homes for rent are planned by 2027-28 at Argyle Street, Three Score Phase three, the Mile Cross depot site, with Argyle Street construction starting summer 2024. We will continue to build to high environmental standards, whenever possible using Passivhaus principles, whilst also exploring the possibility of zero carbon developments when the opportunities arise. We will continue our work with Registered Providers to support them wherever possible to build more much needed and truly affordable housing within the city.

2. Lobby for funding to purchase Anglia Square so that Norwich City Council has control over the site and the type of development that will be undertaken. Any development under council ownership will prioritise a significant number of affordable, high-quality homes while causing minimal harm to the rich cultural heritage of the area.

3. Using our in-house team, we will continue to provide a first-class tenure neutral disabled adaptations service across council and private properties within the city. Deliver disabled facilities grants and financial assistance to vulnerable owner-occupiers and renters to tackle inadequate housing conditions and to enable people to continue to live in their own homes.

4. Use the results of the recently undertaken stock condition survey to create a detailed strategy and plan for a major retrofit programme across our social housing estate. This will include installing insulation, heat pumps and solar panels where appropriate – in order to cut bills, make homes warmer and reduce carbon emissions.

5. Continue to develop our pioneering work to support rough sleepers to move off the streets through our creative Pathways partnership arrangements. Despite more than a decade of Tory austerity, leading to a rise in homelessness and rough sleeping, we will continue with our promise to those who need our help. Not only for people who have nowhere to stay, but also those housed but living with complex needs that need significant, intensive, and tailored support. We will continue to take a central role in the multi partnership arrangement under the Make Every Adult Matter initiative. We will continue to collaborate with the excellent Norwich homelessness charities, such as St Martins Housing Trust.

6. Wherever possible use our local housing company, Lion Homes Ltd, to deliver the council’s programme of growth and investment including new housing for rent and sale.

7. Respond to the stock condition survey, developing a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy to upgrade our social housing, ensuring high quality homes for tenants, and continuing planned upgrades of kitchens, bathrooms, and windows.

8. Continue to work with the fire and rescue services to make sure all our tenants remain safe – wherever they live.

9. Continue to provide our tenants with specialist money advice and financial inclusion support to help meet the enormous challenges posed by the Tory attacks on the welfare agenda – bedroom tax, universal credit, and the benefits cap.

10. Support our tenants in sheltered housing to live independently and in good housing, despite reckless, damaging, short sighted cuts to supported housing by the Tory run Norfolk County Council.

11. Endeavour to bring down the cost of private rents by expanding the supply of all types of low-cost private and non-council sector housing.

12. We will protect private renters in our city. There is no place for rogue landlords in our fine city as our action against the landlord of St Faith’s and St Peters House most recently demonstrates. We will use all powers, impose significant fines at the highest possible level, and pursue legal proceedings where appropriate. Almost a quarter of Norwich’s citizens live in private rented housing. Under Labour the City Council are developing a Private Renters Charter to force landlords to deliver safe, secure, well-managed and energy efficient housing. Building on this, in 2024, we will continue to develop our private sector housing service and HMO licensing service, prioritising additional funding and support for these teams, exploring the use of additional or selective licensing to drive up standards beyond the statutory scheme to improve the quality of far more homes across the city. Ultimately, our clear aim is to go further and propose a licensing scheme for the entire private rented sector, with a requirement to meet a ‘Norwich Standard’ for high quality rented accommodation. This will protect all tenants, improve standards across the sector, and make sure that good landlords and agents are not undercut by bad ones. Labour has also put in place housing advice for residents, challenged illegal evictions and provided support to keep people housed. We campaigned to prevent anyone losing their home due to the pandemic and will continue to fight for secure tenancies.

13. Keep taking tough measures, including compulsory purchase, to bring empty homes and sites back into use wherever possible, such as the former Kings Arms site in Mile Cross. Work began in October 2021 to build much needed social housing with residents moving in before Christmas 2022. Labour will use the ‘Revolving Fund’ to compulsory purchase sites where appropriate so that under council ownership they can be developed for much needed new housing.