Gateshead Council knew it had to do something about housing.

Like many parts of the country, it is affected by the housing crisis. Poor quality private-sector rented housing dominates in certain areas, and the ‘Tyneside flat' model in which two-storey Victorian terraces are divided up into small flats is all too familiar to local renters. Absent landlords prevail in some streets, failing to resolve or address antisocial behaviour and environmental waste. Families were moving out of parts of Gateshead because they could not find homes of a suitable size and quality for their needs.