14,000 social homes lost last year, as over a million households sit on waiting lists

New government figures released todayreveal a net loss of 14,100 social homes in England, as demolitions and sales far outstripped the number of new homes built.  

• 21,600 social homes were either sold or demolished in 2021/22, while only 7,500new homes were built leading to a net loss of14,100homes. 

• In the last decade, there has been a total net loss of 165,000 social homes (between 2012/13 and 2021/22).  

• 1.2 million households in England are currently stuck on waiting lists for a social home, a rise of 5% in the last two years. 

Shelter is urging the government to make building more genuinely affordable social homesa central part ofits new Levelling Up Bill, and in doing so reverse decades of decline.The charity argues this is essential to combatting the country’s housing emergency.  

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “We arefirmly in the red when it comes to social housing. We lose far more homes than we build every year and the losses are mounting up. 

“The social housing deficit is at the heart of the housing emergency. The fundamental lack of genuinely affordable homeshas pushed millions of people into insecure, expensive and often discriminatory private renting. It is why we have over a million households waiting for a decent social home, andthousands ofhomeless childrenare growing upin temporary accommodation. 

“The solution is simple: build more social housing. The government can’t afford to allow this decline to stretch into another decadeif it has any hopes of meaningfully levelling up. Instead, it must invest in a new generation of the homes we really need – secure, genuinely social housing.” 

ENDS