(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Lee Rowley: UK housing minister called out over social homes stats [1] [] Date: 2024-02 The UK housing minister has been called out for boasting about a “significant increase” in social housing under the Conservative government when in reality the supply of social rented homes has plummeted. In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about social housing tenants facing sanction for anti-social behaviour, Lee Rowley rejected claims the Tories had not built enough social housing since 2010. Britain’s housing minister said: “We’ve built nearly 700,000 social homes, including 170,000 for social rent. So there’s been a significant increase in social housing over the last 14 years, just as there’s been a significant increase in housing overall.” The government’s own Regulator of Social Housing shows there has been a decrease of 225,102 genuine social rented homes since 2012, though this is offset by the addition of 361,560 so-called “affordable” rent homes. These are let for up to 80% of market rates and remain out of reach for many of the more than 1.2 million people on housing wait lists. Poverty campaigners, the Chartered Institute of Housing, and even a Conservative MP have criticised the government’s use of “affordable” homes figures to massage the dire state of social rented stock. What do you think? Win a £10 book voucher for sharing your views about openDemocracy. Tell us Rowley’s figure of 700,000 appears to refer to the broadest possible category of “affordable” housing, which includes homes for private sale such as shared ownership properties, as well as so-called “affordable” rent. Rowley was not challenged over the figures. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities later stated the minister had included “affordable rent” housing in his answer because, legally, the government has designated it as social housing (the category was introduced under David Cameron), but did not explain why he had also included hundreds of thousands of properties for private sale. A spokesperson for the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) said Rowley was “lying” about the Tories’ record. “The way the minister is quoting statistics is the equivalent of a company reporting its income without its expenditure – it only tells you half the story,” they said. “The reality is that even the Housing Ombudsman is saying the social housing model has failed – it is broken. But the minister and the rest of the government don’t want to hear it. Instead they’d rather stick their fingers in their ears and just keep saying that everything is getting better.” The housing crisis is back on the news agenda because of the government’s “reforms”, which include introducing “UK and local connection tests” to determine eligibility. This will force people to “demonstrate a connection to the UK for at least ten years and their local area for at least two years”. People could also be frozen out from applying if they earn too much or have unspent convictions or anti-social behaviour orders. The SHAC spokesperson added: “Clearly gearing it to exclude immigrants is a truly appalling suggestion. It is another attempt to divide tenants and residents and pit one group against another in the hope that people don’t notice the failures of housing policy over the last few decades. SHAC condemns any racism, even when it is obliquely referenced. Housing should be allocated on the basis of need alone, and we should have enough. We need massive investment in council housing to start to address the shortage.” There are around 3.8 million households in social rented homes in England and a further 370,000 in “affordable” rented homes, while 1.2 million people are on waiting lists. People can wait decades before being offered a home, and openDemocracy revealed that in 2022 2,300 people had died in a single year while on the waiting list. The dire lack of housing, particularly social rented homes, has now sparked a homelessness crisis that councils have warned could spell “the end of local government”. Local authorities spent £1.74bn between April 2022 and March 2023 to house people in private sector temporary accommodation – which includes hotels, B&Bs, shelters and hostels – because they have nowhere else to place people. That figure is set to rise to £2.1bn for 2023/24. As of November, 104,000 households – including 139,000 children – were in temporary accommodation, up from 50,400 in 2010. What’s more, landlords are starting to take their homes out of the private rented sector and instead rent them out for temporary accommodation. Siân Berry, a Green Party London Assembly member who sits on London’s housing committee and is the party’s candidate to run in Brighton Pavilion when sole Green MP Caroline Lucas steps down, said “no one is buying the spin” from Rowley. “From people unable to move out of their parents’ homes to older people locked into terrible housing; denying the dramatic and continuing loss of social housing is like denying gravity,” she said. “Across London and the whole country, the number of homes for social rent has plummeted by thousands. Right to buy, estate demolition schemes and repeatedly missed targets have also led to a huge overall loss in social homes. “If the government wants to improve access to social housing it should not be proposing any kind of discrimination but funding councils to buy and build a significant new supply of council homes.” London’s deputy mayor for housing Tom Copley has warned that any progress in housing supply is now under threat. Speaking at a City Hall meeting in December, he said: “We have had a perfect storm of Brexit, labour shortages, the pandemic, the building safety crisis, austerity hollowing out planning departments, materials cost inflation, rising interest rates, war in Ukraine, contractor insolvency, and regulatory uncertainty over mandatory second staircases being the latest example of this.” The issue with second staircases stems from the building safety crisis that has followed the Grenfell Tower disaster. In December 2022 the government consulted on introducing mandatory second staircases in tower blocks of 30 metres. Seven months on, housing secretary Michael Gove gave a speech in which he confirmed the threshold would be brought down to 18 metres, though full details are yet to be published. This has huge implications for planned developments, with second staircases reducing the amount of housing a scheme can deliver. “Developers are simply not coming forward for planning permission while they wait [for details],” Copley said, adding that there are at least 34,000 homes in London’s planning system that are now in limbo as a result. What’s more, because of well-documented issues with existing housing stock, housing associations are halting building because they need to spend big money on repairs and upgrades. Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chair of London’s G15 Group of housing associations, told the same City Hall meeting in December: “What you are seeing particularly from the larger housing associations in London, the G15, is a refocus. “That refocus is on existing homes, our existing residents, and investing in their homes. The G15 will spend £1.5bn per year over the next ten years on existing homes and getting them up to a decent standard.” Fletcher-Smith added that labour shortages were also having an impact. “Up until six months ago we had one roofing company covering 80,000 homes,” she said. “I was delighted to see that the Home Office added roofers on to the list of occupations allowed into the country because we frankly could not find them for love nor money. I would dread every morning opening my inbox if it had been raining the previous night because there were serious, serious problems.” A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “Affordable rent homes, like social rent homes, are legally part of social housing. “Last year saw the highest year on record for affordable housing delivery, with a 12% increase in starts to the previous year and since 2010, we have delivered over 696,100 new affordable homes, including over 172,600 homes for social rent. “Our commitment to building more homes and boosting social housing supply remains, and we are on track to meet our manifesto commitment to build one million homes over this Parliament, backed by investment of £10bn in housing supply.” The spokesperson did not address the loss of social rented homes since 2010. Editor's note, 31 January 2024: This article has been updated to reflect a response from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. 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