The need for high quality, affordable new homes in Bootle is clear. The neighbourhood is widely recognised as one of the most deprived in the UK. The Government’s Indices of Multiple Deprivation states that the neighbourhood around Strand Road in Bootle is amongst the 1% most disadvantaged in the UK with persistent poor health, educational under-achievement, high levels of unemployment, anti-social behaviour and crime.
A lack of good quality affordable housing underpins and exacerbates many of these disadvantages. The quality and quantity of housing plays an important role in community health and wellbeing, including resilience to infection. The effects of poor housing cost the NHS at least £1.4bn a year and recently, the pandemic has brought the connections between housing and health into sharp relief. COVID-19 death rates are highest amongst the communities with the highest levels of poor housing, and Liverpool has been one of the worst affected cities outside London.
Nationally, the Federation of Housing says that 145,000 affordable homes would need to be built each year for 10 years to solve the housing crisis.
In Sefton, the Council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment, published in 2019, says that 645 new homes are needed every year to accommodate the local community. The assessment also shows that there are significant differences between the different parts of Sefton. The northern more affluent parts of the Borough have a greater quantity and quality of homes compared to the lower-income areas of Bootle and Netherton. It makes clear that there is an urgent need for more good quality affordable housing in the Borough, including all sizes of housing and all tenure groups, such as private and social, rented and owned. There is a particularly urgent need for good quality accommodation for families and for 1 and 2 bed rentals.
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