Wednesday, July 26, 2023
A failure of ideology
The Independent reveals that a failure by the UK Government to build social housing in England has condemned 105,000 families to temporary accommodation.
They say that campaigners have slammed the government for failing to support the building of affordable homes and have warned that “the time for empty words on building social homes” had “long past”:
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said families were trapped in temporary accommodation due to “the crippling cost [of] years of no investment in housing benefit and a shameful lack of social house building”.
He added: “Not only do people not have the stability and security of a home, but they’re often left to cope in just one room, with no facilities to cook meals or do washing.” He said households across the country “desperately need more social homes”.
Paula Barker, the shadow homelessness minister, said the figures were a “shameful indictment” of the government’s record, which have “devastating consequences for thousands of families and children”.
Of the 104,510 households in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a high since records began in 1998 – 64,940 were households with children. Both of these figures are up by about 10 per cent on the same period last year.
Temporary accommodation is offered to homeless households who are waiting for their application for help to be processed and to be offered a settled home.
The latest statistics come just a day after Michael Gove said the government would slash red tape to address the housing crisis and allow shops, takeaways and betting shops to be turned into living spaces. The housing secretary also pledged to spark intensive building in cities and change planning laws to allow more home extensions.
His announcements were mocked in the House of Lords by Labour’s Baroness Taylor who said: “With over a million people on social housing waiting lists, and 7,000 social rented homes built last year, does the minister really think a few flats built over chip shops is going to solve the problem?”
There is a huge need for affordable housing, and local authorities – who were traditionally big builders of social housing – have decreased the number of homes they build in recent decades. Analysis of government data by The Independent found that in each of the last five financial years, two-thirds of councils failed to build a single home themselves.
In 2021-22, 207 out of 307 councils that provided data to the government had not built a home in that period. A snap survey of district and borough councils in England carried out by The Independent also found that just over half of local authorities did not build a single home in the whole of 2022.
As the latest figures were released, Polly Neate, chief executive at homelessness charity Shelter, said: “The time for empty words on building social homes, and overdue promises on ending no-fault evictions, has long passed.”
She added: “To end homelessness for good, we need genuinely affordable homes. Michael Gove agrees social homes are essential to solving the housing emergency, so it’s time for his government to get on and build them.”
Riverside, an organisation which describes itself as the largest provider of accommodation for people affected by homelessness, described the figures as “very worrying”.
The figures, released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, also show nearly 80,000 households faced homelessness in England between January and March – the highest figure since 2018.
On top of this private renting is becoming unaffordable for many families, with 24,060 households being threatened with homelessness last year as a result of a Section 21 no-fault eviction, which allows landlords to repossess their properties without having to establish fault on the part of the tenant. According to Shelter. this is up 21 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
At the same time, rent prices hit a new record in the past week, with property website Rightmove recording that the average rent outside London had risen to £1,231 per month, while housing benefit remains frozen. There are now dozens of people competing for every vacancy, pushing up rental prices even further and effectively excluding tenants with poor credit ratings or who are unemployed.
Ideological commitments to cut the cost of benefits and to favour building higher priced intermediate housing rather than affordable homes, have all added to the crisis. It really is time for the government to step up and invest properly to deal with this crisis.
They say that campaigners have slammed the government for failing to support the building of affordable homes and have warned that “the time for empty words on building social homes” had “long past”:
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said families were trapped in temporary accommodation due to “the crippling cost [of] years of no investment in housing benefit and a shameful lack of social house building”.
He added: “Not only do people not have the stability and security of a home, but they’re often left to cope in just one room, with no facilities to cook meals or do washing.” He said households across the country “desperately need more social homes”.
Paula Barker, the shadow homelessness minister, said the figures were a “shameful indictment” of the government’s record, which have “devastating consequences for thousands of families and children”.
Of the 104,510 households in temporary accommodation by the end of March – a high since records began in 1998 – 64,940 were households with children. Both of these figures are up by about 10 per cent on the same period last year.
Temporary accommodation is offered to homeless households who are waiting for their application for help to be processed and to be offered a settled home.
The latest statistics come just a day after Michael Gove said the government would slash red tape to address the housing crisis and allow shops, takeaways and betting shops to be turned into living spaces. The housing secretary also pledged to spark intensive building in cities and change planning laws to allow more home extensions.
His announcements were mocked in the House of Lords by Labour’s Baroness Taylor who said: “With over a million people on social housing waiting lists, and 7,000 social rented homes built last year, does the minister really think a few flats built over chip shops is going to solve the problem?”
There is a huge need for affordable housing, and local authorities – who were traditionally big builders of social housing – have decreased the number of homes they build in recent decades. Analysis of government data by The Independent found that in each of the last five financial years, two-thirds of councils failed to build a single home themselves.
In 2021-22, 207 out of 307 councils that provided data to the government had not built a home in that period. A snap survey of district and borough councils in England carried out by The Independent also found that just over half of local authorities did not build a single home in the whole of 2022.
As the latest figures were released, Polly Neate, chief executive at homelessness charity Shelter, said: “The time for empty words on building social homes, and overdue promises on ending no-fault evictions, has long passed.”
She added: “To end homelessness for good, we need genuinely affordable homes. Michael Gove agrees social homes are essential to solving the housing emergency, so it’s time for his government to get on and build them.”
Riverside, an organisation which describes itself as the largest provider of accommodation for people affected by homelessness, described the figures as “very worrying”.
The figures, released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, also show nearly 80,000 households faced homelessness in England between January and March – the highest figure since 2018.
On top of this private renting is becoming unaffordable for many families, with 24,060 households being threatened with homelessness last year as a result of a Section 21 no-fault eviction, which allows landlords to repossess their properties without having to establish fault on the part of the tenant. According to Shelter. this is up 21 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
At the same time, rent prices hit a new record in the past week, with property website Rightmove recording that the average rent outside London had risen to £1,231 per month, while housing benefit remains frozen. There are now dozens of people competing for every vacancy, pushing up rental prices even further and effectively excluding tenants with poor credit ratings or who are unemployed.
Ideological commitments to cut the cost of benefits and to favour building higher priced intermediate housing rather than affordable homes, have all added to the crisis. It really is time for the government to step up and invest properly to deal with this crisis.
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The ideology pushes more people into poverty cos they cannot afford the rent.Conservatives know that. It discourages people to vote.They also know that they would not vote for them as it is therefore their ideology is to maintain their power base.In their eyes it is not a failure but a success.
It does not help the economy for people have less money to spend on it.In an affordable rented home (no deposit needed) more disposable income is available for the economy.Stress levels etc are less leading to happier people and maybe even increased production.The country is badly in need of change.
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It does not help the economy for people have less money to spend on it.In an affordable rented home (no deposit needed) more disposable income is available for the economy.Stress levels etc are less leading to happier people and maybe even increased production.The country is badly in need of change.
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