Social housing on the brink as decades of failure come to a head

Families are now waiting more than 100 years for social housing in some areas of the UK, according to analysis from the National Housing Federation (NHF), Crisis, and Shelter. Waiting times for at least a three bedroom social home exceed life expectancy in the London boroughs of Enfield at 105 years, Westminster at 107 years and Merton at 102 years.

Only 100 years later… and you can get social housing

And it’s still ridiculous in other local authority locations. In 32 council areas across England, the wait time is more than 18 years, outpacing an entire childhood. Since 2015, the number of overall families on waiting lists in England has increased by 37%.

This is a housing crisis. At the sharpest end of it, there are 164,040 homeless children in temporary accommodation, according to Shelter. That’s a 15% increase on the previous year and no doubt exacerbated by Labour keeping the Tories’ two child benefit cap. On top of that, there are 4,667 people sleeping rough on a give night, which is a 20% increase on the year before.

Then there’s the extreme levels of rent and high house prices people are paying. From 2000-2019, housebuilders profit per house sale rose by £75,000, according to research from Brunel University. And landlords made £56.2bn in rent from young people alone in 2024.

Social housing boosts the economy

While the Labour government has committed to building 1.5 million new homes, it has so far only pledged for 1.2% of them to be affordable, let alone social housing. That’s just 18,000 new homes people can actually, you know, afford to buy. A drop in an ocean of profiteering through the common essential of shelter. And this is on the back of a net loss of social housing: other analysis from Crisis shows that there are now 180,000 less social homes than 10 years ago through sales and demolitions exceeding builds.

That’s despite council homes contributing at least £77.7 billion a year to the economy through savings for the NHS, councils, government and the opportunities it provides residents.

And analysis from Shelter shows that investing in social homes at 90,000 per year would add over £50 billion to the economy, including savings for the taxpayer and a boost to the construction industry. That includes £4.5 billion in savings for housing benefit and £3.3 billion in savings for universal credit. That makes total sense, given 88% of the UK’s housing budget currently goes into the pocket’s of landlords through benefits compensating for high rents. In the 1970s, only 4% of the housing budget went to benefits.

“Ludicrous “

44 year old Angie has been on the waiting list in Tower Hamlets for 16 years and the new figures show its a 40 year wait time for the borough. She said:

We might be on low income, and we might be on benefits, and we might be stuck in a system, but we still have the right to the quality of life that everybody else does

Matt Downie, Chief Executive of Crisis, said:

The consequences of failing to build anywhere near enough social homes are tens of thousands of children growing up homeless, restricted life chances and people trapped in poverty across generations. It’s ludicrous that in some areas of the country the wait for a social home is more than average life expectancy. This must spur action at the upcoming Spending Review. Government must commit to building social housing at scale and provide the necessary investment so that we can create a stronger society where everyone has the foundation of a safe home. With political will and ambition, we can end homelessness.

Mairi MacRae, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Shelter, said:

Decades of failure to build genuinely affordable social homes has left our housing system in tatters and trapped families in a relentless cycle of insecurity and homelessness. No child should grow up without a safe, stable home, but today, more than 164,000 children are spending their formative years in damaging and often dangerous temporary accommodation.

We shouldn’t treat housing as an asset and instead guarantee it at cost price for ownership, paid in affordable monthly sums. Short of that, social housing is a much better option than the private sector for many people.

Featured image via the Canary