Loss of social housing

More people than ever are struggling to afford a secure place to live. Yet, not enough social homes are being built. Help us influence the government ahead of the June Spending Review.

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We aren't building enough social rent homes

Social housebuilding in England is at its lowest rate in decades.

This graph shows the decline in the number of new social rent homes over the last 70 years: from over 200,000 homes built in the mid-1950s, to under 10,000 by 2023/24.

The graph shows the number of new social rent homes over the last 70 years: from over 200,000 homes built in the mid-1950s, to under 10,000 by 2020 - there is a clear, steady decline.

Source: DLUHC, Table 1000 and ONS, housebuilding

In the 1960s, 1.24 million social homes were built compared to 150,000 in the 2010s.
In 1969, we built more social rent homes than we have built in the last 13 years combined.

We're selling and demolishing too many social homes

Despite the social housebuilding delivery that does happen, there are still more lost than delivered.

In 2023/24, 20,560 social homes were lost, primarily through Right to Buy sales and demolitions. Meanwhile, 19,910 new social homes were delivered, leading to a net loss of 650 homes for social rent.

Insufficient social housebuilding plus too many homes being sold or demolished means there’s been a net loss of social housing nearly every year since 1981. Between 2022-2023, there was a net loss of 11,700 social rent homes.

The damage this is having:

As a result of dwindling levels of social homes:

Many families and households who should be in social housing are now instead in the private rented sector, with its more expensive rents, worse conditions and lack of security The number of households privately renting has more than doubled since 1980.
In England, there are now 1.4 million fewer households in social housing than there were in 1980.
There has been an increase in overcrowding, in both the private rented sector and in social housing.

This graph shows the proportion of households living in social housing has decreased, while the proportion living in the private rented sector has increased. Source: English Housing Survey, annex table 1.1

Over 1.3 million households are on the social housing waiting list
Since 1995, the proportion of households living in overcrowded conditions in social and private rented housing has risen by over 70%

Homelessness is at record levels

This graph shows that the number of children growing up in temporary accommodation has doubled since 2010. Currently, more than 159,000 children in England are homeless in temporary accommodation, which is a record high.