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Editor’s comment


A housing crisis made in Government


Patrick Mooney, News Editor


T ere is never a good time to be homeless, but the Christmas and New Year period must be the worst time of all to NOT have a settled home, or a secure roof over your head. It must be particularly bad for children, the elderly and the vulnerable, who are more reliant on the support and help from others. Yet record numbers of people from all of these groups are experiencing homelessness or growing insecurity in their housing, either through threats of eviction or enduring poor living conditions. It is all the more remarkable that we fi nd ourselves in this situation as the present Government has been continuously in power for the last 13 years. T is is surely enough time for any administration to get to grips with the problems in the housing market and to solve them. At the heart of most housing problems is the fact that as a country we have not been building suffi cient homes for the


population’s needs. T e problem is particularly acute at the lower cost end of the rental market, in both the private rental and social housing sectors, but it is questionable if either of these has been a priority. Instead the Government’s main housing focus has been on the owner-occupied part of the market. But even here they have struggled to deliver. As a nation we face a huge under supply of housing. In 1968 some 425,000 homes were built. Over the past 10 years the average number of new builds dropped to just 170,000 per annum, even as demand for them has increased. Next year, it is forecast that only 151,000 new homes will be built, which is barely half the Government’s annual target of 300,000. T is is creating lots of societal problems with young adults having to remain at home living with their parents, or too many people chasing too few homes when they come on the market – whether that’s for buying or to rent. Somewhat belatedly the Government has been busying itself in the past year drawing up legislation to improve the governance


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and performance standards of housing associations and councils (as landlords), and correcting faults in the private renting sector, but these changes are just nibbling at the edges of the problem. T e King’s Speech in November exemplifi ed the diffi culty facing us – there was not a single mention of the overall housing crisis, nor of the Government’s plans to solve it. A commitment to reform the leasehold system and completing the passage of the Renters’ (Reform) Bill are both welcome, but neither will do much to resolve the underlying issues that we face. T ey are merely sticking plasters being applied to segments of the market. A sharp rise in the number of households in temporary accommodation is a clear sign that the housing system is broken and


is hitting the poorest people hardest. T e latest annual fi gures show that 157,640 families were homeless in 2022/2023, which is 12.1% higher than before Covid, with 104,510 in temporary accommodation in March this year. T e last time that the number of families in temporary accommodation topped 100,000 was back in 2004/05. Many of the households placed in temporary accommodation (B&Bs and hostels) are families with children whose most basic needs are not being met. T eir lives and education are being disrupted, they usually cannot play or meet with friends and they are oſt en being placed in accommodation many miles away from their support networks. One recent report suggested that as many as 440,000 children across the country go to sleep each night on the fl oor. T e latest fi gures also showed that rough sleeping is on the rise. T is is possibly what prompted the unwelcome intervention


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HMM_1201_2024 Covers.indd 1


HOUSING MANAGEMENT


& MAINTENANCE DEC/JAN 2024


Record numbers of homeless children


£1.74 billion cost of temporary accommodation


Tenant takes own life due to noise


No fault evictions ban delayed indefi nitely


Companies fi ned over cladding removal


On the cover... Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash.com See page 18


Update your registration here: 14/12/2023 13:50 4 | HMM December/January 2024 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


from ex Home Secretary Suella Braverman, when she said that our streets are being taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice. She also threatened to take action against any charities found to be supplying tents to the homeless. People bedding down on our pavements and in our parks is probably the most visible sign of a broken housing system and a policy failure, but there are far larger numbers who are living in insecure accommodation. T ere are about 11 million people living in the private rented sector and all of them are at risk of being served with an eviction notice, giving them just two months notice to leave their current home and to fi nd a new home. T e serving of section 21 no-fault evictions is one of the main causes of homelessness and banning them has been a manifesto promise for many years. No date has been set for when a ban on these evictions will come into eff ect. Michael Gove has said that before a date for such a ban can be set, the process which private landlords use for recovering possession of their properties through the courts needs to be overhauled, with landlords given suitable alternative ways of recovering possession. T e gap now dividing the housing haves from the have-nots is worthy of that seasonal baddie, Ebenezer Scrooge.


Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash.com


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