We are now building over 30,000 fewer social rented homes a year – John Healey

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, responding to new affordable housing statistics, said:

“These figures confirm the disastrous fall in the number of new affordable homes for social rent under the Conservatives.

“We are now building over 30,000 fewer social rented homes a year than when Labour left office in 2010. At this pace, it will take 170 years just to house the families currently on councils’ waiting lists. 

“After eight years of failure on housing, the next Labour Government will build a million low-cost homes, the majority for social rent.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• ·         New figures for the number of ‘additional affordable homes provided’ have been released today:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/758193/Live_Table_1000.xlsx

• ·         The number of new social rented homes being built each year has fallen by over 80% since 2010, from almost 40,000 to around 6,500.

• ·         The number of low-cost homes to buy, such as shared ownership, has halved since the peak under Labour, to just over 12,500.

• ·         There are currently over a million households on council waiting lists: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/674350/LT_600.xlsx. It would take 170 years to give every household on the current waiting list a social rented or London Affordable Rent home.

• ·         Labour’s plan to build a million genuinely affordable homes over 10 years is here:  http://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Housing-for-the-Many-final.pdf.