90,000 new social homes a year achievable

MPs have said that 90,000 new social homes will be needed every year to meet the country’s housing needs and ensure the overall target of 300,000 new homes is met.

A new report by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee stresses that only a significant increase in funding support for local authorities and housing providers, supported by broader reforms to make land more affordable and using all the receipts from Right to Buy, can provide the necessary uplift.

The nation is in a social housing crisis. 83,700 households are in temporary accommodation, an increase of 82 per cent since 2010, and the number of people rough sleeping has gone up 165 per cent in the same period. The economic and social consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are likely to place greater burden on a social housing system that is already under significant strain.

The committee found that around £10 billion extra grant funding would be required to deliver the homes needed, but concluded that the government could significantly reduce the extra public spending required by reforming land value capture, assembling and using public land for social housing, and redistributing expenditure from existing budgets.

MPs on the committee have also urged the government to reconsider how it disposes of public land, viewing it as something that can be used for the public good rather than simply a source of revenue. The current way Right to Buy receipts are distributed makes it difficult for social housing providers to fund replacements from the small share of the property’s value they receive.

Clive Betts, chair of the committee, said: "The collapse of social housing building since the 1980s has had terrible consequences on our ability to provide adequate housing for those who need it. The last decade has seen a surge in families living in temporary accommodation and people rough sleeping, while at the same time we have come to rely on the private rental sector to shore up the creaking social housing capacity.

“We need at least 90,000 new homes a year to get to the level of social housing we need, but this is achievable. We believe this target can be reached in five years, but only if the government gives providers sufficient financial backing and reforms the wider landscape that social housing providers operate in. They must ensure that the money is there to build, that land is available to build on and allow flexibility to buy surplus housing where it is not needed in the private sector.

“The system must ensure that any housing sold via Right to Buy is replaced like-for-like, and that local authorities are allowed to retain all the receipts produced to enable them to achieve this. This must be a long-term commitment to creating a social housing system that meets long-term demand. It will be challenging but it is achievable."