With most attention being focused on falling house prices and the difficulty faced by those selling houses, it is revealing that over 4million people are currently on a waiting list for social housing. A report predicts this could increase to 5 million within the next year.
In the post war period, the UK embarked on an ambitious scheme to build new council housing. However, the 1980s saw a change of philosophy as council houses were sold off to tenants and the building of new council houses declined. The term ‘council housing’ became almost a perjorative term.
Last year the UK built only around 300-400 new council houses. This compared to the 345,000 new council houses built in 1954 alone.
Currently, UK councils own 1.9m homes. Housing associations also have 1.9m. However, waiting lists for ‘affordable social housing stands at over 4 million and is growing at a faster rate than new supply.
Local Government Associations have backed government plans to build 70,000 affordable homes by 2011 including 45,000 for rent but this, even if implemented is insufficient to deal with the growing waiting lists of people wanting somewhere to live.
With house prices falling, private house builders have withdrawn from the market. Meaning that now more than ever government intervention is needed to deal with a looming housing shortage.
The government still has an ambitious target to build 3 million new homes by 2020, but, it is difficult to see where they will come from
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