Housing crisis leaves 13,000 social homes ready to be built but without buyers

Councils across England are warning they could face bankruptcy unless more social homes are built.

In a BBC report, the Home Builders Federation, which represents housebuilders, claims their members have at least 13,000 affordable social homes ready to be built immediately.

However, these projects are stalled because no housing providers are available to buy the properties.

Major and growing problem

Steve Turner, executive director at the Home Builders Federation, told the BBC the problem of housing providers being unable to buy social housing is getting worse.

He said to the BBC: “It is a major and growing problem that is increasingly threatening affordable and overall housing supply.

“Small sites are being prevented from starting and larger sites are being halted as a result.”

Fixing damp and mould

According to the BBC, one of the main reasons housing associations can’t buy new properties is that they’re spending more money on repairing the homes they already own.

Many housing associations are spending money on fixing damp and mould problems after a government crackdown on unsafe social housing with Awaab’s law.

The law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died from mould-related breathing problems in the family’s social housing flat in Rochdale.

The proposed law requires social housing landlords to check for hazards within 14 days, start repairs within 7 days, and carry out emergency repairs within 24 hours.

£3bn lost in rental income

Another reason is that many housing associations are making less money from renting social homes.

Marie Chadwick, policy leader at the NHF, told the BBC: “Over the last decade the government has been cutting and capping the rent paid by social housing tenants. This equated to £3bn in lost rental income for housing associations last year.”

Another problem is due to rent levels changing it’s hard for housing associations to predict future income. This uncertainty makes it harder for housing associations to budget for buying new properties and also lowers how much banks are willing to lend for those purchases.

Build 90,000 social homes every year

Several councils across England have warned they are spending billions on housing people in temporary accommodation.

According to the BBC, in the past year councils in England have spent more than £1bn on temporary accommodation such as hotels and hostels.

Some councils continue to buy and manage their own social homes, but the financial pressure they’re facing means they can’t afford to purchase the new properties available from housebuilders.

Shelter is calling on the government to build 90,000 social homes every year to tackle the housing crisis.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Decades of failure to build enough genuinely affordable social homes has left families struggling to cobble together extortionate sums every month to keep a roof over their heads.

“Those who can’t afford private rents are being thrown into homelessness and then left for months and even years in damaging temporary accommodation because there is nowhere else. To dramatically reduce homelessness, we need every party to commit to building 90,000 social homes a year for 10 years.”

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