New foundations

Home truths on social housing

BY THE time the extra £2bn that Theresa May has set aside for social housing actually becomes available in 2022 and beyond, Brexit and the economy permitting, it’s almost certain that there will be a new occupant of 10 Downing Street.

Yet, while this money is in addition to the £9bn currently being made available for various schemes and won’t begin to make up the national shortfall in low-cost housing, the Prime Minister is, at the very least, trying to build some longer-term policy foundations.

And while local authorities and housing associations will, rightly, point to the scale of the challenge after they were forbidden from using the proceeds of ‘right-to-buy’ sales, Margaret Thatcher’s flagship policy, to replace homes that were sold, Mrs May says housing is – for now – her number one domestic priority.

However the Government’s job is to make sure this money is spent on bricks and mortar – Housing Secretary James Brokenshire appeared to be over-complicating matters in various interviews – and that major developers do, in fact, construct those low-cost homes which are a condition of planning consent.

That said, Mrs May was correct when she pointed out that social housing tenants are “not secondrate citizens” and that new rental homes should be built to the same standard as privately-owned properties. Her challenge now is making the whole housing sector aware of the Government’s ambition – and then ensuring that the public and private sector do come together to look for solutions rather than problems.