July 2020
Build, build, build – more social rented homes
Chloe Fletcher
Policy Director
National Federation of ALMOs
Build, build, build, more social homes, is what we at the NFA along with our partners; ARCH, CIH, Crisis and the NHF are asking the government to do by placing #HomesAtTheHeart of the recovery plan. Although the Prime Minister’s “New Deal” speech on Tuesday echoed our sentiments in saying that he would put jobs and infrastructure at the centre of the government’s economic growth strategy there was nothing new for housing in this announcement.
As part of the Spring Budget back in March, before the Covid lockdown, the Chancellor announced £12bn for the next round of the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) 2021/2-2025/6. With Rishi Sunak now scheduled to give a summer economic update date on the 8th July, we need him to go further on social housing and bring forward spending into the next two years and prioritise social rented housing within the AHP for the good of the whole country.
This is not just because we know there is a huge need for more social rented homes across the country, it is also because we know that bringing forward investment now into building more social homes would also help kickstart the economy, providing jobs directly in construction but also through local supply chains.
This pandemic has shown us the true value of our homes, not as an investment to be upgraded every few years or left as an inheritance to children in the future but as a much needed sanctuary from a dangerous and unpredictable virus right now. Homes, gardens and sheds across the country have become our offices, classrooms, gyms and playgrounds but we are the lucky ones. For many people the place they have had to spend lockdown has felt like a prison – housing that is far too small, too expensive, of poor quality or isolated from the support that would help them to live well
It is sad that it takes a truly horrendous public health crisis to show up the stark inequality in housing in this country but we hope that by shining a light on the poor conditions many people have to live in during lockdown we can build cross party and wide public support for our campaign and coalition #HomesAtTheHeart, calling for a once-in-a-generation investment in social housing and the people who live in it.
In partnership with the CIH, National Housing Federation, Association of Retained Council Housing, and Crisis, as well as more than 60 supporters, we are asking MPs to push for much more ambitious action to support recovery and create a brighter, fairer future.
ALMOs have been at the heart of the pandemic response at a local level. Working closely with their parent local authorities, they have supported communities through COVID-19: maintaining essential services, helping vulnerable residents, housing and supporting homeless people. ALMOs work with some of the most deprived communities across the country and have therefore seen the wider social and economic impacts of the lockdown on those communities first hand. We believe that by investing more now in building new social homes, improving existing social housing and meeting our carbon targets for housing the government can help the country recover quickly and sustainably.
The NFA is therefore calling on government to:
- Announce an effective grant programme with sufficient funding to deliver social rented homes we can all be proud of.
- Provide specific, secure funding to end rough sleeping and reduce homelessness by the end of this Parliament.
- Reform right to buy + one-for-one replacement of every rented social home sold.
- Fully fund essential building safety work post-Grenfell.
- Set out a clear strategy to meet the 2050 zero-carbon target for housing.
