Social housing: Councils demand action to bolster affordable accommodation

The right-to-buy scheme must be reformed to ensure those most in need have access to secure accommodation, councils have warned.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said the scheme, that enables social tenants to purchase their homes with big discounts, meant that 7,449 social homes were lost on a net basis during the last financial year.

Its figures showed that of 10,896 social homes sold through right-to-buy in 2022/23, only 3,447 had been replaced since, in breach of government commitments.

The cross-party body said the budget, due on 6 March, was an opportunity to address a number of flaws that were exacerbating shortages.

The LGA said the main concern was that rising discounts, alongside other measures that restrict councils’ use of right-to- buy receipts, meant that home ownership was increasingly being prioritised over access to secure, safe, social housing.

It said a commitment made by government in 2012 that promised to replace each home sold under right-to-buy with a new social home, had not been met.

LGA analysis found more than 110,000 properties had been sold under the scheme since, but only 44,000 replaced.

The discount rate is set to increase again in April, by 6.7%, providing maximum purchase discounts of £136,000 in London and £102,000 elsewhere.

“At a time of acute housing shortages, where more than one million people are on council housing waiting lists and councils are spending £1.74bn annually on temporary accommodation, the LGA is calling for major reforms,” its statement said.

The list included giving councils control over how money raised from the scheme is spent on development and property acquisitions.

Councils are also seeking powers to protect their investments in housing and greater flexibility to shape right-to-buy schemes to suit the needs of local areas.

The housing issue has been a thorn in the sides of successive governments, with supply failing to meet demand over decades and placing upwards pressure on prices as a result.

More recently, the cost of living crisis and rising interest rates to tackle that inflation have resulted in surges to everyday household bills.

Some councils, including Liverpool, have said they are witnessing record rough sleeper numbers, with local authority and other accommodation being further squeezed by asylum claimants.

Housing minister Lee Rowley told Sky News on Tuesday that the government has “got to have targets”, piling pressure on the Conservative party’s position after an election manifesto pledge in 2019, for 300,000 new houses each year by the mid-2020s, was watered down.

The government has argued that councils are part of the problem, dragging their feet on planning applications especially for building on brownfield sites.

Its focus in England is on smoothing planning processes covering derelict sites to deliver more homes in towns and cities.

Labour says an overhaul of the planning system that it would introduce, if elected, would unlock the construction of 1.5 million new properties over the course of the next parliament.

Darren Rodwell, LGA housing spokesperson and Labour leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “We are facing a significant housing shortage in this country which has pushed council budgets to the brink as they struggle to find suitable homes for an ever-increasing number of people.

“Whilst the right-to-buy can and has delivered homeownership for many, the current form does not work for local authorities and those most in need of housing support are simply unable to access secure, safe social housing.

“It is time for the government to overhaul a system that has seen our social housing stock significantly diminish.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson responded: “The government remains committed to the right-to-buy, which since 1980, has helped over two million social housing tenants to become homeowners.

“We are committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing, and our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme is delivering well over a hundred thousand affordable homes – including tens of thousands of new homes specifically for social rent.

“We have also made it easier for councils to deliver replacement homes and to provide more safe, secure and decent council housing for those that need it, and we have given them more control over how they spend their right to buy receipts.”