Political parties urged to commit to building new generation of social homes
Housing charities want 90,000 built a year
Political parties must commit to building a new generation of social homes to end the housing emergency, according to a coalition of charities, businesses and campaigners.
An open letter with a range of signatories including Grenfell United, The Health Foundation and Ikea is urging a "mass social housebuilding programme" and emphasising the positive impact social rent homes can have on those who grow up in them.
Housing charities are re-stating their long-called-for commitment to build 90,000 social homes a year.
The letter comes as new survey findings from Shelter suggested that almost three quarters (70%) of social tenants said they could not afford to live in their local area were it not for their access to social housing.
A total of 2,041 social renters in England responded to the research, with 412 of those having moved from a privately rented home in the previous 10 years, the charity said.
The polling, carried out by YouGov for Shelter in April, suggested that more than two thirds (69%) of parents said social housing had given their children a stable home, while 43% of social tenants said it had meant they could live close to their support networks.
The letter stated:
"The construction of social rent homes has fallen off a cliff. We built over 200,000 social rent homes in 1954, but last year, we delivered just 9,560. In fact, we are seeing a drastic net loss of social rent homes. In the last decade alone, our social housing stock has shrunk by hundreds of thousands.
"The lack of social housing in this country is driving a housing emergency. Across the country, 1.3 million households sit on social housing waiting lists.
"There are over 145,000 children homeless in temporary accommodation, with nowhere to play or do their schoolwork and whole families living in a single room. Meanwhile, a private renter receives a Section 21 'no fault' eviction notice every three minutes."
Shelter said its analysis of the latest Government rent data showed that social rents are 64% more affordable than private rents, with social tenants in England having to pay on average £828 less per month in rent than private tenants.
The letter, referring to the charity's recent campaign supported by actor Eddie Marsan and musician Suggs, stated:
"We need to build good-quality social homes again. So a new generation can be proud to say: We are made in social housing.
"Together, we are calling on all political parties to listen to the growing consensus across the country and build a new generation of social rent homes to end the housing emergency."
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said:
"The housing emergency has been wilfully ignored for too long. All the signs point to one solution and it's the only one that works.
"Now that a General Election has been called we cannot afford to waste any time. All political parties must commit to building genuinely affordable social homes - we need 90,000 a year over 10 years to end the housing emergency for good."
Dave Carter, CEO of the Whitechapel Centre, said:
"We're seeing the impact of that under-investment and lack of housebuilding for the last 30-40 years.
"The country talks about this housing crisis at the moment - but actually it has been so long in the making.
"I can remember first starting working in the sector in the 1990s and it came after that decade of the right-to-buy and everybody saying 'lovely policy in terms of right-to-buy, but unless you replace that housing stock, there will be a dwindling amount of social housing and affordable housing' and ultimately lead to a crisis in accommodation.
"Low and behold, that's exactly where we are. We can see the impact, the number of people that are experiencing homelessness - whether that's visible in terms of rough sleeping, whether that's the hidden homelessness in sofa-surfing - you can see people in desperate need.
"Access to the private rented sector is at an all-time low. We can probably count on one hand how many people we've housed in the private rented sector this year and that's because of affordability.
"The rents are increasing by £150/£250 a calendar month and it's just not affordable to the average person and therefore there's more and more people reliant on social housing at a time when there isn't the investment in social housing or the building of social housing and as a result, the numbers are dwindling.
"Needs are just exceeding demand"
"In Liverpool, they've estimated there's 12,000 people on Profitable Plus. Profitable Plus is the choice-based letting system for social housing, so 12,000 people on the waiting list.
"That's single people, that's families, that's people who are overcrowded, it includes people who are homeless - it includes a whole variety of different people. Needs are just exceeding demand."