Christmas approaches and images of glowing families in well-presented homes full of anticipation of what Santa will bring surround us. However, the reality is that the coalition government’s autumn statement gave no joy to households that cannot afford to buy and are currently waiting for a social rented property.
Census data from 2011 tells us that social housing provides over 10 million people in the United Kingdom with a decent home and security of tenure at a rent lower than they would be able to find in the private rented sector. A quality home can make an immense difference to health, happiness and quality of life.
It is very difficult to estimate to true scale of social housing demand across the UK given recent changes, which saw over 100,000 households removed from housing waiting lists in England. The reason for removing these households is that ‘many applicants have no realistic prospect of ever receiving a social home’ and the accepted applications ‘encouraged false expectations and large waiting lists’. This is a demand-side fix due to a supply-side crisis.
This crisis is due to the insufficient levels of social and private housing completions. This government has presided over the lowest levels of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s. At the current rate it would take more than half a century to build the homes for those families most in need on council waiting lists, standing at approximately two million across the UK.
Many households apply for social housing due to their constrained housing options – the lack of affordable alternatives and insecurity of private sector renting. In addition, house price inflation has resulted in owner-occupation becoming stretched beyond most emerging households’ limits. Home-ownership is at its lowest levels for 30 years. The knock-on effect is that adult children are increasingly returning to the parental home or not leaving due to a lack of affordable housing, with the Office for National Statistics estimating that there are now 3.3 million 20-to-34-year-olds who are living with their parents, which has steadily increased in the last decade. For these reasons, a large-scale social housing building programme is needed.
A massive social housing building programme would deliver a welcome to boost to the real economy by creating jobs, especially in the construction sector and its partners. Central government support is needed. However, innovative council such as Islington and Manchester have developed funding schemes to meet the needs of their communities to overcome this Tory and Liberal Democrat failure to prioritise social housing.
Islington council’s investment of approximately 15 per cent (£150m) of the pension fund is set to deliver hundreds of new social rented homes. Moreover, this investment offers good investment returns for the pension pot. So, this is a win-win initiative. Manchester city council announced a similar plan earlier this year.
Caution ought to be exercised regarding one of this government’s methods for improving the planning system, speeding up Section 106 agreement negotiations. These agreements are planning obligations between developers and planning authorities, which help to deliver affordable housing, particularly in rural areas. So, by shortening the process, planning authorities may now be in a weaker position.
This autumn statement fails to deliver. This is why the UK needs Ed Miliband to be prime minister next May with Labour’s comprehensive plan to get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020, providing up to 230,000 jobs in construction.
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Lesley Brennan is parliamentary candidate for Dundee East
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