Social Housing Bill aims to boost supply but Shelter warns government must go further

The government has unveiled the Social Housing Bill to Parliament, but one charity claims it does not go far enough.

The bill aims to incentivise the building of more social homes and protect social housing tenants.

However, while Shelter has welcomed the bill, the housing charity says the government must do more, calling for 90,000 social rent homes to be built each year for ten years.

Forced to struggle in the private rented sector

Under the bill, the government says it will protect existing social housing stock and incentivise the building of more social homes by reforming the Right to Buy scheme.

The bill includes a range of further reforms, including increasing the eligibility requirement for Right to Buy to 10 years, amending percentage discounts to better align with the new maximum cash discounts, and exempting newly built social housing from Right to Buy for 35 years.

It will also strengthen protections for tenants who are victims of domestic abuse by providing greater security and stability.

Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said: “Everyone deserves to live in a decent, safe, secure and affordable home. Yet far too many families in need of a social rented home are languishing on local authority waiting lists, forced to struggle in the private rented sector or in expensive temporary accommodation, driving up rents and housing benefit costs in the process.

“At the same time, the ability and willingness of social housing providers to invest in the building of new social rented homes is undermined by the steady and significant loss of existing stock through Right to Buy.

“The government has introduced the Social Housing Bill. The bill has three core objectives: first, to protect much-needed social housing stock and thereby incentivise the building of more social rented homes; second, to create a fairer system with greater protections for social housing tenants in instances of domestic abuse; and third, to clarify the statute book and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy so that providers can invest in new social and affordable homes with confidence.”

Government needs to go further

However, Shelter says that while the bill is a step forward, the government must go further and build more social homes.

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The government is absolutely right to protect our stock of social homes in the Social Housing Renewal Bill. But with England on the brink of a cost-of-living catastrophe, it’s high time it delivers the council housing revolution it promised two years ago.

“Stemming the loss of social homes through Right-to-Buy and better protecting survivors of domestic abuse in social housing is a step in the right direction. But the government needs to go further to give hope to the generation of children trapped in temporary accommodation and families losing sleep over affording sky-high private rents.

“There’s only one solution to the housing emergency: a new generation of social homes. To get councils building the government must free them from the mountains of unfair housing debt that is holding them back. This is the step change necessary to ramp up to the 90,000 social rent homes we need a year for ten years.”