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funds to pay all of the removal costs. There does not appear to be the prospect of an early change in direction from the Government, with a spokesper- son for the MHCLG saying: “The number of new affordable homes built has increased for the fourth year in a row. We’re going to keep on delivering, increasing the supply of affordable housing. That’s why we are investing over £12bn in affordable housing over five years, the largest investment in a decade.” However, the overall figure for afford- able completions last year is only one third of the total number of new low cost homes needed each year to meet demand, according to experts at the National Housing Federation. The NHF, which represents housing associations who build the vast majority of affordable
homes, has estimated that 145,000 new affordable homes are needed each year to satisfy demand.
STRONG CRITICISMS VOICED Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, commented: “A few thousand social homes is a drop in the ocean. It is unbelievable that in the middle of a nationwide housing emergency over half of the country saw no new social homes built at all.
“Every day our services pick up the phone to more and more people desperate for the security of a social home. With so many families facing homelessness already and the economic impact of the pandemic only just starting to be felt, more social housing is our only way out of this crisis.”
The official Government figures came out as homelessness charity Crisis warned that more than 200,000 households face the worst forms of homelessness this winter, including sleeping on the streets, in sheds and garages, in unstable accom- modation such as bed and breakfast hotels or sofa-surfing with friends and families. Another concerning statistic is that 52 per cent of the new homes were delivered via Section 106 agreements with developers, and this source of new homes is due to dry up shortly if the Housing Secretary’s plans for planning reform come to fruition.
One ray of hope for low-income house- holds is the growing trend among housing associations for them to convert the higher affordable rents charged on most newer homes to the lower social rents. However, the transfers come at a price, as the reduced income is being reflected in smaller development programmes with fewer new rental properties being built in total.
Another positive sign from the figures is that the proportion of completions in rural local authorities has increased, easing some of the housing pressures in the countryside. Historically, rural areas have accounted for only around 30 per cent of all completions, but it has increased steadily since 2014/15 and last year they represented 45 per cent of all completions.
In addition, in 2019/20 one third of all local authority delivery of new affordable housing was done by London boroughs, representing a significant increase compared to around a quarter in the preceding four years. But these positive signs are being generated within an overall housing programme which is wholly insufficient to meet the pressing demands for new truly affordable housing, which can only be met by increased Government funding and allow- ing local authorities to spend Right to Buy receipts on building new houses for rent at below market rents.
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