With people spending years on the waiting list and homes in poor condition, housing is a prominent issue ahead of polling day in Southampton - and the main parties have spoken about what they'll do to tackle the issue.

There are around 8,000 households on the city’s housing register according to documents published by the city council and a rising number facing homelessness in recent years.

The local authority is trying to reduce the number of homes sitting empty for months, with figures suggesting there were 390 of these, known as voids.

Meanwhile, the state of the private rental sector has led Southampton City Council’s scrutiny panel to launch an inquiry on the issue.

As residents prepare to vote across the city in local elections on Thursday, May 2, the LDRS asked all of the competing parties about what they would do to fix some of the housing problems.

Conservative – Group leader Daniel Fitzhenry

We would be building many new homes, working with private developers to bring forward the Bargate site, Toys R Us site and Leisure World site. We would be marketing Southampton and creating a positive planning culture for developers to build new homes and bring new jobs to our city.

We would be starting an ambitious programme to regenerate our estates and provide thousands of new affordable homes working closely with social housing providers.

We would be keeping our council tenants’ rents low and investing in getting basic services right across Southampton for them.

Overall, we would cut Labour’s waste at the council, focus on getting back services right like collecting the bins, repairing roads, pavements and potholes and keeping council tax low whilst marketing our city on a global scale creating new opportunities for jobs, businesses and people to live, invest and build on Southampton.

Green – Co-ordinator Lisa Fricker

There are over 8,000 people on the housing waiting list in the city. This has not been reviewed and people do not need to re-register each year so this figure may be wrong. In Portsmouth, with a similar size population, there are only 1,000 people on the housing waiting list. This is obscene. Over a third of the council housing stock have outstanding repairs. The time between tenants (void time) is increasing month by month.

Care homes, which have been decommissioned, are sitting waiting for housing to be built on them and at the same time the city rushes through the sale of assets. In addition, the council officers approved an application to build on playing fields [as a recommendation] which thankfully was turned down by the planning and rights of way committee members. There are more examples of the poor management now happening in the city. The Labour administration is failing our citizens.

Labour – Group leader Lorna Fielker

Safe and secure housing is the foundation of good health and wellbeing.

We don’t have enough housing people can afford. Labour is working on plans to deliver more of this by getting on with Townhill Park regeneration and working with other affordable housing providers to build new homes across the city.

We need to make sure we are reletting empty properties faster than we are currently doing. An action plan is in place, and we have made sure it is scrutinised at public meetings. Labour is the only party which has made a commitment to work with our tenants to develop a charter, so that they know what they can expect from the council as a landlord to give them a stronger role in holding the council to account.

In Southampton over 29 per cent of households live in the private rented sector, we think they should also have a good deal. We have been looking into what more we can do to help with them having more security and stability in their rented homes.

Finally, we are providing support to homeowners and landlords to make homes more energy efficient which will help keep bills down.

Liberal Democrat – Bassett ward councillor Sam Chapman

Southampton Liberal Democrats will deliver a reduced housing waiting list.

Under Labour’s watch, the housing crisis has deepened, with over 7,500 households languishing on the council’s housing waiting list. The time taken to turn around vacant houses is at record levels and the list of outstanding repairs has never been longer. Their failure to take decisive action has left many residents struggling to find affordable housing.

We know that our city can be doing better as we can look to our comparator cities for examples of best practice.  The Liberal Democrat administration in Portsmouth oversees a housing waiting list of just over a thousand families from their latest LGA data – this is a massive 6,500 less than we have in our city. With the right leadership, we can deliver this here.

Reform UK – Campaign lead Philip Crook

Labour have allowed the council housing stock to become the second worst within England. As a council candidate, I have seen this first-hand with mould, litter, disrepair… of the council housing stock. This is unacceptable.

A key challenge is the mass migration crisis impacting the country and the city. Southampton’s population is rising by 12,000 per annum, that’s approximately 4,000 more cars, approximately. another 12,000 bedspaces (5,000 new dwellings). We either stop the mass migration or build new homes? It’s easier to stop mass migration of cheap Labour which undermines jobs and housing for the indigenous population than trying to build more mass housing estates along with all the required services which are under pressure. Reform UK would act nationally to reduce the unsustainable mass migration/population rise.

We would also ensure British citizens come first for council housing. For Southampton, Reform UK would undertake a five-year repair scheme to re-instate the condition of council housing, chase the £1.2m rent arrears Labour has allowed, and build communities with support from students and local businesses. Help to clean and maintain the estate.

“Ask what I can do for my community not what the community can do for me.”

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) – Swaythling ward candidate Nick Chaffey

Southampton has a housing crisis, due to the failure of the Tories’ right to buy, which massively reduced the availability of low-rent council housing. It’s estimated that 70 per cent of council housing sold is now in the private rented sector.

In Southampton, a three-bed semi-detached council house rents at £500 a month, with the same house in the private sector renting at £1500 a month. The council policy followed by Labour and Tories of bulldozing council flats and replacing them with more expensive and less secure tenancies has made the situation worse. Private developers have built for-profit homes that most can’t afford while affordable developments have collapsed leaving construction incomplete.

Why don’t we build low-rent, sustainable council housing to meet the needs of the city? Instead of funding a property portfolio with a £200 million loan, the council could have built thousands of homes to deal with the housing crisis.

The introduction of rent controls for all, including students, would be an immediate relief from the cost of living crisis bearing down on renters. New tenant’s rights are needed to end the scandal of no-fault evictions. Government low-interest mortgages could relieve homeowners.