The housing crisis and the high cost to the public purse will dominate the budget for the council for the coming financial year, Labour said today (Wednesday 4 February).
Brighton and Hove City Council is due to publish its draft budget for 2026-27 this afternoon and the ruling party pledged a “bold budget to solve the root cause of the housing crisis”.
Labour also said that it would “protect and improve local services and stand up for residents feeling the long-term impact of housing failures”.
The party said: “With more and more local families forced into insecure, unsuitable and overpriced temporary accommodation due to decades of underinvestment in social housing, Labour is taking decisive action to fix the root causes of the crisis.”
The Labour deputy leader of the council Jacob Taylor said: “This is a radical budget for an unprecedented crisis.
“This housing emergency did not happen by accident. It is the direct result of Conservative governments failing to build enough affordable homes and allowing rents to spiral out of control.”
Councillor Taylor, who is also the council’s cabinet member for finance and city regeneration, added: “Cities like ours are now paying the price, with families trapped in expensive, unsuitable temporary accommodation and councils left to pick up the continually growing bill.
“Under Labour, we are doing things differently. This budget puts housing first. It invests in social homes, cuts our reliance on private landlords and ensures families have safe, stable places to live.
“We are not prepared to accept a broken system. We’re doing the hard work of reversing decades of Tory housing failures. We are fixing it.”
Labour said that key points from the budget would include
- £112 million to build and buy new homes, expanding council and affordable housing across the city
- a major expansion of council-owned temporary accommodation, giving families stability while reducing long-term costs
- a targeted £15 million request to the government, focused solely on accelerating investment in temporary accommodation and preventing homelessness
- £10 million to repair roads and tackle “Tory potholes” after years of neglect
- growing council income from key assets, including the Brighton Centre, to protect services
- modernising council services, saving money while improving access
- protecting neighbourhood services, including waste collection, street cleaning, parks and playgrounds and bringing in a new commercial graffiti removal service
The Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey said: “This is a bold and radical budget set by Brighton and Hove City Council, focused on digging our city out of the mess of Tory austerity.
“Labour is stepping up. We are investing £112 million in new homes and buy-backs and we are asking the government for the flexibility to reset the dial on housing.
“We are also responding to resident and business concerns with ongoing funding for mental health counselling in secondary schools, a new parking scheme in Hollingdean and a commercial graffiti-removing service.”
Councillor Sankey added: “This budget puts our Labour values front and centre: fairness, dignity and an equal chance to succeed.
“We understand the scale of the problems people are facing and we’re willing to make the bold decisions to fix them.”
Labour said: “This is a radical intervention to solve a pressing crisis. It reflects Labour’s core values: fairness, compassion and responsibility.
“The council is requesting an extra £15 million from the government to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis in the city.
“Labour leaders say the budget demonstrates that, even in the toughest financial climate in decades, the council is choosing to invest in people, protect services and build a fairer Brighton and Hove.
“It is a clear statement of intent: while others defend a broken housing system, Labour in Brighton and Hove is getting on with fixing it.”
Is it too late cancel that £19m cheque to Base One Limited and put it back in the pot pending a full city independent audit and review of housing budgets and costs? Since when does a Council Leader act unilaterally on a major contract during a public holiday period as Ms Sankey appears to have done?
It wasn’t. A contract wasn’t signed unilaterally. Emergency accommodation contracts are authorised under existing budget approvals and officer delegations, with legal, finance and procurement sign-off. The £19m figure is a framework maximum, not a cheque written upfront, and cancelling it would not put money “back in the pot” as no such payment has been made.
This Labour council though knew about the housing crisis when they formed their administration in 2023. The Labour government also knew about the housing crisis when they formed their government in 2024.
To pretend somehow they have been lumbered with unexpected costs is ludicrous. The council should be telling their Labour government how let down local councils feel by the lack of funding they are getting from them to tackle poor housing in the city, and other problems like the money needed to meet new legal responsibilities they have following post-Grenfell legislation.
The councillors in Brighton and Hove are too cowardly to stick their head above the parapet and challenge their Labour colleagues in Westminster though. They are putting their party over people and letting residents in the city down.
There’s been a spike in the number of homeless presenting at the council, more than anticipated, which is why there’s an unexpected cost.
On your second claim, that’s the job of the MP, not the Ward Councillors, and you should write to him, and encourage others to do so as well, so we can articulate the strength of feeling.