England has a housing crisis – more than one million families and individuals are on the waiting list for a social home.
Experts think 90,000 of these homes need to be built every year for a decade to house everyone – but less than 5,000 were completed in the past year.
And there are fears the problem will become even worse.
We spoke to organisations working in the planning, building and management of social homes who tell us they are in a “perfect storm” of financial uncertainty, unsuitable construction and huge bills for repairs.
The result, they say, is that thousands of sites earmarked for affordable and social housing are not being built despite the enormous need.
The Home Builders Federation, which represents housebuilders, told the their members have at least 13,000 affordable properties, including social homes, ready to be built right now.
But they can’t start because there are no housing providers to buy these properties.
“It is a major and growing problem that is increasingly threatening affordable and overall housing supply,” says Steve Turner, executive director at the Home Builders Federation. “Small sites are being prevented from starting and larger sites are being halted as a result.”
