Affordable home building dips to 24-year low

Construction of affordable homes in England in 2015-16 fell to its lowest level for 24 years, new data shows.

There were 32,110 built, compared to 66,600 in the previous year, according to figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Ministers said the slump was because of the start of a new house building cycle, adding that the government was investing £8bn in affordable housing.

Labour said the figures were disastrous and many “affordable” homes were not affordable.

The DCLG figures showed the number of new homes for social rent fell to only 6,550. Labour said this was 80% lower than in the party’s last full year in power (2009-10) when the figure stood at 33,490.

The number of homes for private rental at “affordable” rates fell from a peak of 40,730 in 2014-15 to 16,550 in 2015-16. The total constructed for affordable home ownership dropped from 15,970 to only 3,430 over the same period.

Terrie Alafat CBE, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “Though a drop in the delivery of affordable housing may have been expected following last year’s peak, the fact supply has more than halved in a year is extremely worrying.”

A spokesman for the DCLG explained the drop, saying: “Delivery is normally lower in the first year of any new housing programme and so these figures are expected as part of a five-year house building cycle.”

Shelter’s head of policy and public affairs, Anne Baxendale, said: “At a time when this country is crying out for more genuinely affordable homes, these figures are not only shocking but unacceptable.

“With 120,000 children set to spend Christmas homeless and in temporary accommodation and a whole generation of private renters living from one pay cheque to the next, the new government needs to get a grip on this problem once and for all.”

Labour housing spokesman John Healey said the figures showed the government was building the lowest number of social rented homes since records began.

He added: “This all-time low results from Conservative ministers who have washed their hands of any responsibility to build the homes families on ordinary incomes need.

“We’ve seen six wasted years with the Tories in charge of housing. They have no long-term plan for housing and they’re doing too little to fix the housing crisis for millions of people who are just managing to cover their housing costs.”

Healey also said the government was trying to hide its “failure” by branding more homes as affordable, even when they are available at 80% of market rent or have a purchase price of as much as £450,000.

Meanwhile, right-wing think tank ResPublica has called on the government to set up a long-term National Housing Fund to deliver up to 75,000 homes a year and get the housing market working for the many, in a new report published today.

Going to Scale proposes the creation of a major new National Housing Fund, backed by government, to overcome the fundamental problems of number, pace and scale. Acting as a new guaranteed buyer in the market, the Fund would deliver at least 40,000 and up to 75,000 new homes across England.

ResPublica’s report shows how this fully returnable £100bn investment over 10 years would act as a guaranteed buyer to unleash the potential of housing associations and SME developers to build the homes needed. Building up house building capacity in this way would ensure the market delivered the homes we need over the long-term.