Local authorities in England are failing miserably to provide enough affordable homes to meet the needs of those desperate to find somewhere to live. A new report by the housing charity Shelter reveals that 98 per cent of councils in this country are falling short in their duty to deliver.
The Labour Government – under first Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown – has been obsessed with league tables. So now Shelter has published its own Housing League Table, rating every local authority on the extent to which each council – and its partners – have met the need for affordable new housing in its area.
The charity found that only eight of 323 local authorities are providing enough affordable homes – meaning a 98 per cent failure rate. Local authorities are responsible for identifying the housing need in their area and for ensuring affordable homes are provided to meet this need. But Shelter’s league table shows that, in the past year, 90 per cent – 292 of them – provided fewer than half the homes they admit are needed.
Campbell Robb, the charity’s chief executive, said: “We know the recession has created a difficult climate for house building, but these figures clearly show that councils must work far harder to ensure more desperately needed affordable homes are provided if they ever hope to meet the housing needs of their local population.
“With 1.8 million households on housing waiting lists and more than one million children living in overcrowded homes it is unacceptable that only eight councils have provided enough affordable homes to meet local need.”
David Cameron’s flagship council, Conservative-controlled Hammersmtih and Fulham in west London, is ranked 211th out of 323 local authorities.
Jack Dromey, deputy general secretary of the union Unite, said: “Hammersmith and Fulham has drawn up plans to demolish 3,400 council homes, end security of tenure and hike up social housing rents to market levels. Knocking down council homes, ending security of tenure and hiking up rents to gerrymander votes is the politics of the discredited Dame Shirley Porter of Westminster past.”
Shelter says its Housing League Table will be updated each year to hold council performance – and government policies – to account on delivering affordable homes.
