Britain’s Housing Crisis
The Current Emergency
Levels of public housebuilding have plummeted, which has led to the sharp increase in families stuck in expensive, poor quality, insecure privately rented homes.
Current Waiting List for Social Housing
Last year a little over 5,000 new social homes were built in the UK. Given the number of people on the social housing waiting list the number of new housing dedicated to social housing needs to greatly increase.
Between 1950 and 1980, Britain had a formidable record for delivering over 100,000 desirable new social homes almost every year. In some years that number topped 200,000 under the two main parties.
Homelessness
At least 4,750 people sleep rough on any given night. These are the people that we know about, there are bound to be more.
There are over 90,000 households hidden away in temporary accommodation across England and Scotland, a rise of 38% in the last five years.
More than half of homeless families are working, this demonstrates that having a job and an income does not guarantee you a home.
Inadequate Housing
Millions of people are living in homes that don’t provide for their basic needs. They include the people living with potentially lethal hazards, such as unsafe electrics, those who cannot keep their home warm or run a hot bath, and families struggling without enough space to live.
In the worst of the private rented sector, the slum conditions that first led to the building of our social housing have returned.
Source: https://england.shelter.org.uk/
