The number of Government-funded social rented homes being built has fallen by almost 90% since 2010 - Healey

Tuesday, 19 June 2018 12:13

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, responding to new affordable housing statistics which show that the number of Government-funded social rented homes being built has fallen by almost 90% since 2010, said: “A year since Theresa May admitted that the Conservatives haven’t given enough attention to social housing, it’s clear Ministers are still not building the homes the country needs. “After 8 years of failure on...Request free trial

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, responding to new affordable housing statistics which show that the number of Government-funded social rented homes being built has fallen by almost 90% since 2010, said:

“A year since Theresa May admitted that the Conservatives haven’t given enough attention to social housing, it’s clear Ministers are still not building the homes the country needs.

“After 8 years of failure on housing, the Conservatives should back Labour’s long-term plan for a million new genuinely affordable homes.”

Ends

Notes to editors

· New figures released today show that across England the number of new Government-funded social rented homes started has fallen from 39,492 in 2009/10, to just 4,235 last year, a fall of 89%. Most of these homes were built in London under Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717047/Live_Table_1012.xlsx

· Labour recently revealed that Ministers have raided the affordable homes budget to pay for replacing cladding on tower blocks following the Grenfell Tower fire: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/23/replacing-cladding-on-tower-blocks-will-mean-fewer-affordable-homes

· The Government’s overall affordable housebuilding numbers includes the Conservatives’ bogus ‘affordable rent’, defined at up to 80% of market rents.

· Last year, on 22 June 2017, Theresa May admitted “we simply haven’t given enough attention to social housing.”https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-commons-statement-on-grenfell-tower-22-june-2017

· Labour’s affordable housing Green Paper sets out a plan to build a million genuinely affordable homes over 10 years, defined as either social rent, living rent, or low-cost home-ownership: http://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Housing-for-the-Many-final.pdf