Building the future: transforming housing in the Liverpool City Region
Steve Rotheram, Mayor
| Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
Since becoming Mayor, Steve Rotheram has been working to make the Liverpool City Region the best place to grow up, raise a family, and build a business. He believes that starts with something many people still go without: a safe, affordable, and sustainable home.
Too often, housing policy is debated in abstract terms – supply pipelines, planning frameworks, investment ratios. But at its heart, housing is about security, aspiration, and quality of life. Whether it’s a young couple trying to get on the ladder, or an older resident struggling with heating bills, the same principle applies: everyone deserves somewhere decent to live.
In our region, we’ve taken that principle and put it into action. Through the powers of devolution, we’ve started to do things differently – more locally led, more collaborative, and more ambitious.
Take our LCR Future Homes programme. Last autumn, we unveiled our first “zero bills” prototype on the Liverpool waterfront. Built using Modern Methods of Construction, it generates as much energy as it uses. But this wasn’t a PR exercise – it was a proof of concept. We’re now working with local authorities, developers, and housing associations to roll the model out across the region - creating skilled jobs, lowering emissions, and offering families a new kind of affordable home.
We’re also making the most of our land. Through our Brownfield First approach, we’ve committed £150m to unlock stalled sites and build 8,000 homes – without putting pressure on the greenbelt. The scale of our ambition is best reflected in plans for Liverpool North New Town: a 5km stretch of regeneration potential, spanning Liverpool and Sefton, with scope for 10,000 new homes, thousands of jobs, and better transport links.
But tackling the housing crisis doesn’t stop at new builds. We’re also investing heavily in improving what already exists. Our region is home to some of the country’s oldest and least energy-efficient housing. Through one of the UK’s largest retrofit schemes, we’re upgrading more than 10,000 homes – installing insulation, solar panels, and heat pumps to make them warmer, cheaper to run, and better for the environment.
And we’re training local people to do the work - through apprenticeships, skills bootcamps and targeted support for those looking to retrain. A just transition can’t happen without good local jobs, and we’re making sure our residents can take full advantage of them.
That’s why I welcomed the government’s recent £39bn Affordable Homes Programme. It’s a serious, long-term investment – exactly the kind of commitment we need to address decades of under-delivery. As a constructive partner, I’ll be making the case for our region to receive the backing we need to scale what we’ve already started.
We’ve got the sites ready to go. We’ve got the partnerships in place. And we’ve shown we can deliver quickly and well.
In the Liverpool City Region, we’re demonstrating how devolved leadership can help tackle national challenges in practical, innovative ways. With the right powers, and the right support, we can go further and faster.
Housing is one of the biggest issues facing the country – but it’s also one of the areas where progress is most achievable. Working together, national and local government can help thousands more families find not just a house, but a place they can genuinely call home.
