As the city struggles with a severe housing and financial crisis, pressure is mounting on the government to step in and prevent the sale of 755 properties on the Perry Barr Estate to a private bidder.
The biggest municipal government in Europe declared itself practically bankrupt last year, mostly as a result of a financial abyss created by an equal-pay bill and a badly executed IT system.
In addition, an average of 447 applications are submitted per month for council housing, with over 23,000 households on the waiting list.
The present Perry Barr Estate was hailed as a legacy regeneration project of the competition and was built to house athletes during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The coronavirus epidemic put a stop to the development, and the athletes were relocated to student housing.
Although the program’s original goal was to provide livable houses, the 968 units that were eventually finished in 2023 have remained unoccupied.
They were unable to sell the properties to the general public due to “challenging and volatile” market conditions, according to a report that was given to the council last week. The study specifically mentioned the effect of the Liz Truss mini-budget.
