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More than 165,000 social rent homes lost in six years, says CIH
More than 165,000 social rent homes have been lost in England over the past six years, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) has said.
Analysis of government statistics by the CIH has revealed that 165,697 homes for social rent were lost between 2012 and 2018 – 117,828 owned by councils and 47,869 by housing associations.
And it warned that 199,000 are set to disappear in total between 2012 and 2020 due to Right to Buy sales, demolitions and conversions to the affordable rent tenure.
However, this projection is lower than in previous years following government decisions to scrap the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap for councils, drop a requirement for town halls to sell their most valuable homes and more funding for housing associations.
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“For many people on lower incomes, the only truly affordable option is social rent. It is simply unacceptable that we are losing so many of our most affordable homes at a time when more and more people are in need,” said Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the CIH.
“We have seen some welcome progress in recent months, including the removal of the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap to help councils build more homes and the new investment partnerships between housing associations and Homes England.
“But government investment is still heavily skewed towards the private market.”
The CIH is also calling for the Right to Buy to be suspended to help stem the losses.
Funding for social rent – which tends to be up to 40% cheaper than market rents – was cut by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government in 2010 in favour of more expensive affordable rent.
The CIH’s analysis is based on local authority housing statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and housing association figures from Homes England.
