Industry News


Housing professionals want more social rent homes


T


he Chartered Institute of Housing has a full policy and training agenda with the new Government setting out its programme


in a slew of announcements, consultations and legislation. Reflecting on the various initiatives, the CIH has issued a members’ briefing, which is broadly supportive. Tere are around 5.5 million people living in


social homes across the UK, just over four million of these in England. Just below 20% of households currently live in social housing provided mainly by housing associations and councils. Tere continues to be a need for lots more


social homes, as a report published by the NHF and Shelter earlier this year reaffirmed, putting the number of homes needed at 90,000 per year. Speaking at the Labour conference in the


Autumn, Labour MP Dan Tomlinson urged the sector to “keep pushing” for the Government to deliver 90,000 new social homes each year. It is welcome, then, that the new Government


has committed to a new era of social housebuilding with ambitious housing targets: that’s 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, with a commitment to delivering more social homes. Chancellor Rachel Reeves reiterated her party’s


commitment to increasing the number of new homes built each year. Speaking in Liverpool, she said: “What you will see in your town, your city, is a sight that we have not seen oſten enough in our country: shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky, the sounds and the sights of the future arriving.”


PRIVATE RENTING However, as things stand, there are approximately 1.3 million people on England’s social housing waiting list alone. Tis means many are forced – 20% of UK households in fact – to look to the increasingly expensive private rented sector. A privately renting household in England


typically pays £1,300 a month on rent. In London, that figure shoots up to more than £2,100. In Scotland, where a temporary rent cap was liſted


A NOTE ON SHARED OWNERSHIP Shared ownership was first introduced through the 1980 Housing Act to help people who wanted to be homeowners but couldn’t afford to buy a home with a conventional mortgage. Since its inception, some 400,000 shared ownership homes have been built, half of which have been bought out to full ownership. So far, the new Government has said little about


earlier this year, the average monthly rent comes in at £1,018. Indeed, the unaffordability of renting privately


continues to push up rates of homelessness and temporary accommodation use. In August, it was reported than more than 150,000 children in England are currently living in temporary accommodation, marking a 14.7% rise in the number of households with children in temporary accommodation on the previous year. Living in temporary accommodation has


become a reality for around 75,000 households in England, despite legislation demanding that such placements should be restricted to periods of no more than six weeks. With the introduction of its Renters’ Rights Bill,


the new Westminster Government has laid out plans to ameliorate the pressures facing private renters and those who simply cannot afford the rents, including limiting how oſten landlords can hike rents and by how much. While such measures are welcome, it’s the view


of many – including CIH – that to truly ease the difficulty of private renting, more homes need to be built, including many social and affordable homes. John Perry, CIH’s policy adviser, says: “Te new


Government faces a dilemma: it wants to promote homeownership but also build more homes for social rent. Tis is bound to involve choices about resources. CIH supports both objectives, but our priority for resources would be for more social rented homes.”


Twenty-one people chasing every rental property, says Zoopla


A staggering average of 21 people are competing for every private rental property advertised, according to new figures from property portal Zoopla. Te figure is more than twice the pre-pandemic average and up from an average of 15 recorded in the last Zoopla report in June. While there are now 18% more rental homes available than this time last year –


something Zoopla attributes to lower mortgage rates allowing some renters to buy their first property – there are still 24% fewer homes available than before the pandemic. Te NRLA fear this situation could be exacerbated by the recent announcement of the Renters’ Rights Bill which will see the abolition of section 21 and the fixed term, as well as potential tax changes in the Autumn


10 | HMMOctober/November 2024 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


shared ownership, with the tenure absent in all notable announcements and policy developments. Tis is despite a select committee report earlier this year finding the tenure is “failing to deliver” an affordable route to homeownership. Te report made a series of recommendations


for the then Conservative government, including to examine how it can ensure shared owners are only ever liable for repairs and maintenance costs proportionate to the size of share they own. Tese recommendations still stand under the new Labour government. Speaking at the Labour conference , former chair


of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee Clive Betts said he was sceptical about the future of shared ownership, adding that funding for the tenure could be redirected to support the Government’s social housing ambitions. Te new Government has committed to


publishing a long-term housing strategy, and although we have yet to see any substantive detail on this, many in the sector, including CIH, welcome the commitment. It is also encouraging that, with Matthew


Pennycook and Angela Rayner heading the housing brief, we are likely to see more stable political leadership on housing policy. So far, this has proven to be the case. “What we don’t want” says Peter Williams,


“is another short-term gimmick. “Hopefully the new administration will have learned the lessons from previous governments, and we’ll see a fit for purpose long-term housing plan that is in tune with the current and future needs of the whole country.”


Statement. Te landlords group is continuing to lobby for adjustments to the Bill and any timetable for implementation, to ensure the sector has time to prepare and so that landlords have the confidence to remain in the sector and continue to invest. According to the report the average rent for new


lets in the UK is £1,245 as of July 2024, with rents rising 5.4% in the last year. While this is the slowest rate of growth in three years, a combination of high demand and a low supply of properties means rents remain high. Zoopla predicts rents will rise 3-4% over 2024,


with the supply/demand imbalance set to remain into 2025.


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