22 COMMENT


Social housing delivery crisis


Patrick Mooney Housing Consultant


Patrick Mooney explores how social housebuilders are falling far short of targets, with severe underinvestment, rising homelessness, and regulatory pressures undermining eff orts to deliver the new homes urgently needed.


fall in the number of new homes started by housing associations and local authorities across England has highlighted the scale of the problems facing the social housing sector as it struggles to deliver across a wide range of fronts. As the total for all new houses started in England last year fell to about 108,000, the social housing sector combined to contribute just 29,510 of the total – with councils starting a somewhat miserly 1,300 homes in addition to the 28,210 being built by housing associations.


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The numbers for completions were slightly better at 154,000 in total, with 38,600 provided by social landlords, but the overall picture is a signifi cant concern to politicians in Whitehall, as well as those working in the sector and perhaps most importantly, to the hundreds of thousands who are waiting for a safe, secure and affordable home. These totals are nowhere near the 1.5 million new homes target set by the Government for this Parliament, nor are the


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social homes fi gures remotely close to the , fi gure which eperts say are needed to be built each year to meet demand. You do not need to be the most eagle-eyed of readers to notice the huge discrepancies.


And sadly the prospects for this year and net are looing no better as the sector is facing an unprecedented combination of demands on its limited resources. Simultaneously the Government and a variety of regulators are also epecting social landlords to spend considerable sums on improving their eisting housing stoc and services to residents.


This is needed to reverse decades of under-investment – to tackle such problems as mould and damp, to speed up the delivery of essential repairs, to retrofi t energy effi ciency and new health  safety measures, while also bringing houses up to a modern standard. None of this work comes cheaply and the failure to deliver could result in punitive action from regulators and the ombudsman.


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