DEFEND COUNCIL HOUSING NATIONAL CONFERENCE: A MANIFESTO FOR COUNCIL HOUSING 19 MARCH 2010 AFTERNOON WORKSHOP: THE NEW HOMES WE NEED DEBORAH GARVIE, SENIOR POLICY OFFICER, SHELTER

THE NEED FOR NEW HOMES In 2008, Shelter and University of Cambridge* established: 1. A total of 242,000 extra homes were required each year, 67,000 (28%) of which should be social rented homes. 2.There would be a shortfall of nearly 1m homes by 2020: 450,000 shortfall in Government targets against our research 500,000 shortfall of building output against Government targets 3. There would be a 30,000 shortfall in affordable homes (nearly a third of the total shortfall) by There was an existing 500,000 backlog of unmet need for social rented housing (two thirds in South) requiring 150,000 net additions. * Homes for the Future: A New Analysis of Housing Need and Demand in England

WHY THE NEED HASNT BEEN MET 1.The total number of social homes has fallen by 30% from its peak in In 2008/09, only 31,090 social rented homes were completed. 2.Under the Right to Buy over 1.76 million homes have been sold in England. Over 480,000 (more than a quarter) have been sold since Gross social housing investment in England at constant prices has fallen from £12b (79/80) to a low of £3.8b (99/00) to £7.4b (08/09). 4.With a reduction in public investment, planning gain has been used as a means to subsidise new affordable homes. In 2005, Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that 50% of affordable homes were delivered via section 106.

IMPACT OF THE NEED FOR NEW HOMES 1.Whilst numbers have been decreasing since 2003, nearly 65,000 households in England were found to be homeless during 2009: 42,000 households were accepted as homeless and in priority need. 2.In England, 654,000 households are overcrowded and more than one million children live in overcrowded conditions. In London, more than a third of children in the social rented sector live in overcrowded conditions. 3.Nearly 1.8 million households were on council waiting lists in England at the 1st of April 2009: there has been an increase of over 70 per cent since Black and minority ethnic households are more than twice as likely to be homeless as white British households and around six times as likely to be overcrowded.

THE NEED FOR NEW HOMES FOR SOCIAL RENT To meet housing need, there must be an increase to the supply of social rented housing because its currently the only tenure that provides accessible, secure and cheap housing. 1.Without security of tenure, people can become trapped in a cycle of homelessness. In England in 2009, the third most common reason, cited by 11% of homeless households, for the loss of their last settled home was the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy. 2.Without a ready supply of cheap housing, people struggle to meet high housing costs. In 2008, 2.2m households (9%) in Britain were paying more than half their income and 1m households (4.1%) were paying more than two thirds of their income on housing costs. In 2009, 12.2m people said they struggle to pay their housing costs.

WE NEED NEW HOMES: SHELTERS CALLS Shelter has today launched its Housing League Table Website which allows people to scrutinise the extent to which their council is meeting housing need. We want national and local government to prioritise affordable housing delivery. We support measures that will lead to investment in new council homes. We therefore welcomed the Governments intention to dismantle to HRA subsidy system. We want to see a system that allows all revenue and capital receipts to be reinvested in new and existing council homes; ensures low rents and protects tenants from future rent hikes; and ensures adequate funding for the future management, maintenance and modernisation of council homes.