Dudley Council has joined forces with 19 other local authorities across the country to call on the government to secure the future of council homes.

An interim report backed by 20 councils has been published this week and identifies five solutions for the new government to “secure the future of England’s council housing”.

The report reveals new analysis which claims council housing budgets face a £2.2 billion black hole by 2028 without urgent action.

Without the right longer term support and investment, the report says, councils will be unable to build new homes and have no option but to sell housing stock to fund maintenance on the rest of its portfolio.

The recommendations include an urgent one-off “rescue injection” payment, reform of the Right to Buy policies and urgent action to get stalled building projects moving again.

It comes as the leader of Dudley Council, Councillor Patrick Harley, added his signature to an open letter to the new Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. It calls for “urgent action” to “solve the housing crisis”.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said: “We have joined forces with 19 of the biggest councils in the country to put our names to this interim report and open letter to the Deputy Prime Minister.

“The findings are stark and make it clear that without urgent support and funding from the government, the future of council housing is in danger. We want to regenerate stalled and derelict sites on brownfield land and build more homes for our residents.”