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Dominic Raab must tackle the growing shortfall in low-cost rented housing

The status quo is unsustainable and trapping a growing number of people in poverty, writes Campbell Robb

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JRF CEO @campbell_robb calls on @DominicRaab to tackle the shortfall of social rented homes #ukhousing

The status quo is trapping people in poverty, writes @campbell_robb #ukhousing

The lack of low-cost rented housing in England has led to a growing number of families trapped in poverty, facing impossible choices between paying their rent and covering other essentials.

The issue of supply must be addressed in the upcoming Social Housing Green Paper.

Only by doing so will it offer a credible strategy to tackle the issues facing the housing sector and the people we exist to provide homes for.

New analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that since 2011, the new supply of affordable housing in England has averaged 47,520 homes each year. That’s 30,000 homes short of the independently assessed need for 78,000 additional affordable homes each and every year.

“High housing costs are a key driver behind the sustained rise in poverty.”

Unless this issue is addressed, the shortfall will total 335,000 homes by the end of this parliament. That is equivalent to a city the size of Leeds.

In 2017, the prime minister pledged £2bn in extra investment for areas with the most acute housing needs.

A renewed focus on more targeted investment is welcome but this additional capital will only help deliver 5,000 of the 30,000 additional homes needed to bridge the shortfall – one in six.

High housing costs are a key drivNer behind the sustained rise in poverty that we are experiencing across the UK.

In the past decade poverty in the private rented sector has doubled and now stands at 4.7 million people – three million of whom are in work.


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Families on low incomes are seeing the meagre increase in real income growth they have experienced since the financial crisis mostly wiped out once housing costs are taken into account.

Furthermore despite £23.4bn being spent on housing benefit each year, nine in 10 claimants in the private rented sector now face a gap between their rent and the support they receive.

To make sure they can stay in their home, an increasing number of people are resorting to topping up their housing benefit with on average a third of their other income.

This means that their budget for other essentials such as food, heating and clothes is stretched to breaking point.

The status quo is unsustainable.

“The affordable rents model does not insulate people from the broken housing market.”

Our research last year shows that housing is a top concern for low-income families, while the vast majority of the population, regardless of income, believe it is the role of government to provide a decent home for those who cannot afford to themselves.

While this shows a clear political imperative to act, boosting the supply of homes that low-income families can afford is vital to us building a society where we protect one another from harm.

Housing associations and the wider social rented sector have a key role to play in bridging the growing shortfall of affordable housing. But supply on its own is not enough – we also need to focus on the affordability of the homes we are building.

The affordable rents model, with its link to private rents, does not insulate people from the broken housing market.

In fact, the implementation of this system will see over a million more people in poverty by 2040.

We know that low-income families are experiencing a number of significant barriers to securing an affordable and decent home.

This makes it all the more crucial that the sector works together to deliver a new solution that works for families who are struggling to make ends meet.

“There is also a higher level of satisfaction among tenants in social housing.”

Delivering more low-cost rented housing would lower the ongoing housing costs for families and government, as well as providing more people with the decent and secure home that is needed for life, learning and work.

There is also a higher level of satisfaction among tenants in social housing.

Our research found that four out of five social renters are satisfied with their housing tenure, whereas private tenants are twice as likely to be dissatisfied with their current tenure status.

Meeting this assessed need for low-cost rented housing is in the interests of the government’s wider ambition to fix the broken housing market. Delivering 78,000 additional affordable homes a year would significantly contribute to the government’s ambition to deliver 250,000 homes per year.

We need a step change in the delivery of new low-cost rented housing and a bold plan of how this support can help relieve some of the pressure on low-income families’ finances.

If successful, our analysis shows that building 80,000 additional homes each year could reduce the housing benefit bill by £5.6bn by 2040.

Theresa May and Sajid Javid’s recognition that social housing has been an area of policy overshadowed and underinvested in is a sign of clear political leadership.

New housing minister Dominic Raab must seize the opportunity offered by the upcoming Social Housing Green Paper to push for a credible long-term strategy that tackles the serious shortfall in the supply of low-cost rented housing.

Tackling this shortfall is the most effective way of fixing our broken housing market and making it work better for low-income families.

Campbell Robb, chief executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation

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