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Building homes, building futures
From Paul McCartney to Leah Williamson, social homes have helped generations thrive. We're campaigning to make sure future generations get the same chance.
Social homes change lives
From Paul McCartney to Leah Williamson, so many of our national treasures grew up in social homes. But the number of social homes being built has plummeted for decades. It’s time to change the story.
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 just over 12,000 in 2024/25.
Source: MHCLG, Live tables on affordable housing supply, Table 1000 and MHCLG, Live tables on housing supply: indicators of new supply, Table 244
More than five million social homes in 1979, fewer than two million today. Many of our greatest national stories started in council-built social homes. But now tens of thousands of children are growing up homeless in damaging temporary accommodation, without the space and security to let their potential run wild.
Thanks to you, Shelter supports families every day to find decent, affordable homes. But the chronic lack of social homes is holding so many children back.
Last year, the government promised a social housing revolution. This year, we’ve been pressing MPs to make changes – like cancelling council debts – that would make it easier for councils to get building again.
To keep our campaign growing, we need you.
Get involved in the campaign