NHF report calls for social housing revolution

A new report has been released by the National Housing Federation, ahead of its annual conference this week. The report looks at the national housing crisis and how it can be tackled. Figures released point to a further crisis in social housing, unless a radical new approach is adopted.

The report published by the Federation, which represents housing associations, social landlords to over 2.7M, outlines that nation’s commitment to building homes has fallen from £11.4Bn in 2009 to £5.3Bn in 2015 – from 0.7% to 0.2% of the total GDP.

And while the need for housing rises, with more than a million families on the housing waiting list, Chief Executive David Orr has warned that these figures point to a social housing funding crisis.

According to the report, social housing spending is at a record low, and while support for new build homes has fallen, more than ever is being spent on private rental through housing benefit. Over the last 20 years, spending on housing benefit has risen from £16.6Bn to £25.1Bn, it is acknowledged that housing someone in the private rented sector instead of a social home costs an additional £21 every week. The report found that the amount of housing benefit going to private landlords has almost doubled over the last decade to £9.1Bn in 2015/16.

Mr Orr points out that reinvesting in social housing and providing low cost properties, will lower the cost to private rental. He says the Government needs to make a break with the past and start funding new genuinely affordable homes.

Currently there are no funds available to build social rent, affordable housing for those on the lowest incomes. A 2010 Government decision halted funds to social rent, and construction dropped off sharply, figures from the report show that work was started on almost 36,000 social rented homes in 2010/11, the next year it was just over 3,000.

Meanwhile, demand for new homes is not slowing down; the population of England is projected to increase by 17% until 2039 – an additional nine million people.

Mr Orr will call for more capital being made available to social homebuilders, like housing associations, allowing for flexibility in charging rents appropriate to residents’ incomes. The remaining £1.1Bn unspent on Starter Homes should be redirected to building homes for social rent, allowing housing associations to build 20,000 of the most affordable homes.

He said: “It is absurd that we’re spending less on building social housing than we did in the nineties – there are even more people today on housing waiting lists than then despite increasingly stringent criteria.

“We know we need more, better quality social housing. And yet, rather than putting public money into building the homes we need, we are propping up rents in a failing market. Ultimately, this is poor value for the taxpayer and has a knock-on effect on everyone struggling to rent or buy.

“The Prime Minister is right that we’ve not paid social housing enough attention. After the tragic fire at Grenfell, this crisis can no longer be ignored. The Government must be bold and make a break with the past by making money available to build genuinely affordable homes.

“There’s more than a billion pounds that remains unspent on Starter Homes. Let’s put this money to use and let housing associations build 20,000 of the genuinely affordable homes the nation needs.”

Read the full report: How public money is spent on housing

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