Thousands of homeless children are growing up in cheaply converted shipping containers and cramped rooms in former office blocks; 130,000 families in England are being crammed into one-bedroom flats; and social housing residents of a block of flats in east London engulfed in flames say they are being forced to move back despite safety fears.

These are just a few recent examples of how the UK housing crisis is affecting the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens. But how much notice is the prime minister, Boris Johnson, taking?

He has made spending pledges for the NHS and police, but there is little to suggest Johnson will address the UK’s shortage of truly affordable homes for rent. Housing expert Colin Wiles points out that during Johnson’s two terms as London mayor, he redefined the term “affordable” in 2011 to mean rents of up to 80% of market rents – extremely expensive in the capital. “Johnson’s philosophy, in a nutshell, is that homeowners mean Tory voters and social housing means Labour voters,” says Wiles. “Johnson in No 10 signals a gloomy outlook.”

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The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, says England needs about 145,000 new social homes every year, including 90,000 at below-market rent. But in 2018 only 6,000 social rented homes were built, as a result of sharp government cuts to funding for new social housing since 2010.

“We’re clearly seeing a push for home ownership,” says federation president Kate Henderson. “As a sector, we can support affordable home ownership through shared ownership homes, but we must also make the case for delivering affordable and social rented homes alongside that. We want to build the affordable homes the country needs, but we can’t do that without significant government funding.”

The government spent £1.27bn on affordable housing in 2018, according to the National Housing Federation. It wants to see that rise to £12.8bn a year for 10 years, so 145,000 more houses can be built every year.

The money is vital, as political and financial uncertainty has scuppered many housing associations’ plans to subsidise new social homes by building new houses for sale. Brexit uncertainty has prompted a downturn in the housing market, with London house prices falling at the fastest rate for 10 years.

In August, the chancellor, Sajid Javid, announced £600m of new infrastructure spending to “unlock” the construction of up to 50,000 homes in London and the south-east. But that is far from pledging direct funding to build homes for social rent. According to a Chartered Institute of Housing survey in August, more British people feel directly threatened by the UK housing crisis (57%) than our exit from the EU (56%).

There is also frustration for those who want to see reforms to the housing sector following the terrible fire in Grenfell Tower in June 2017. “We’re now confronted with our fourth housing minister within just over two years,” says Edward Daffarn, a leading member of the Grenfell United survivors’ group, which is calling for better tenant representation and the creation of a consumer watchdog for those living in social housing. “The frustration of having to start again is beyond measure.”

While Daffarn welcomes the commitment by many housing associations to change their relationship with the people they house, he points out that the process can be difficult and time-consuming. “We are sceptical of what housing associations are saying until we have quantifiable means to tell how they are performing. In the meantime, a lot of people contact us – and they are not saying: ‘Gosh, my housing association has changed.’”

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Henderson says housing associations are committed to making buildings safe, but it is expensive. The federation wants the government to create a special fund, in addition to the existing £400m fund for cladding replacement, to cover further costs such as fire doors.

But it’s not all gloom. After years of frustrating restrictions, councils are finally being allowed to build houses themselves, with many already having set up innovative new ways to get more social homes built.

In Barking, for instance, the council has set up its own developer, Be First, which aims to build 50,000 new homes in the borough over the next 20 years. “We don’t have to generate the same level of profit as private housebuilders,” says Be First’s managing director Pat Hayes. “We face huge challenges but also huge opportunities. The council here is really ambitious. It actually wants to do something to try and change the place.”



