Government 32,000 homes short of affordable homes target

The government will miss its 2016 and 2021 targets for affordable housing by 32,000 homes, with rural areas the worst affected by the shortfall.

The Public Accounts Committee said this was putting a strain on households across the UK, as an estimated 1.2 million people are on social housing waiting lists.

Grants are distributed to housing associations through the £21bn programme which aimed in 2016 for 250,000 homes to be built, but just 241,000 have been delivered. 2021 targets were placed at 180,000 homes, but only 157,000 have been built.

According to the Committee, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) ‘does not have a grasp on the considerable risks to achieving even this lower number of homes.’

Chair of the Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP, said: ‘The Government knows affordable rented homes offer the best value for money. Many people in high-cost areas simply can’t afford to rent privately or buy their own home and there’s a desperate need for affordable, secure rented homes. But amid all the building targets there isn’t one for affordable or socially rented homes as part of government’s overall housebuilding targets.

‘Local authorities know where and what homes must be built to address the national housing crisis but don’t have the power to act. The human cost of inaction is already affecting thousands of households and now the building programme is hitting the challenges of increased building costs. This does not augur well for ‘generation rent’ or those in desperate need of genuinely affordable homes.’

DLUHC has been accused of not taking into consideration the potential savings which could be made by reducing the numbers of people living in temporary accommodation.

Targets to deliver 10% of homes in rural areas are set to be missed, while the government may also struggle to deliver the 10% supported homes.

Rishi Sunak has recently had to change housebuilding targets in the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill, so the 300,000 new homes a year is just an advisory measure.

The move was to appease the 100 Tory backbenchers who were threatening to oppose the targets.

Photo by John Crozier