A stark warning issued ten years ago about the slow demise of social housing in England has been realised, according to new research and reader responses to a recent Guardian editorial. The core function of providing secure homes for those on the lowest incomes is now under severe threat.
The Erosion of a Founding Principle
Contrary to some modern perceptions, social housing was not originally conceived solely for those unable to afford private rents. As reader Roger Driscoll from Epping points out, vast post-war estates like Becontree and Harold Hill were built to house ordinary working families at a time when the private rented sector was often substandard. The government of the era saw it as a civic duty to provide quality, secure tenancies for a broad section of society, a mindset that endured for decades.
This principle began to unravel, Driscoll argues, with the mass sell-off of council homes initiated under Margaret Thatcher. This policy shift led to a significant transfer of social housing into the private rental market, a change sometimes visible today in the poorer maintenance of such properties.
A Prediction Comes True
In 2013, commentator Tom Murtha authored an article predicting the "slow death of social housing," a view that was criticised by sector leaders at the time. His central argument was that converging factors would ultimately prevent housing associations from serving the poorest.
Last week, a report from the homelessness charity Crisis confirmed this prediction. Published on 8 December, the research found that people on the lowest incomes are being systematically denied access to social housing. This is driven by a critical shortage of social-rent homes, a rise in so-called 'affordable' housing which is often unaffordable to those in need, restrictive letting criteria used by housing associations, and government policies on benefits.
Unprecedented Homelessness and a Vital Question
The Crisis findings were compounded in the same week by a report from Shelter showing homelessness has reached unprecedented levels in England. This confluence of evidence forces a fundamental question, one Murtha posed a decade ago: "where will those people go?"
He further challenges the sector to consider its future, asking: "What is the future for social housing if it is no longer able to carry out one of its main functions – to provide homes for those in the greatest need?" Murtha suggests a potential solution may lie in a new, directly government-funded model of social housing that is managed locally and accountable to communities, though he wryly wonders what such a concept would be called.
The evidence suggests the original purpose of social housing is being hollowed out, leaving the most vulnerable in society with fewer and fewer safe, secure, and affordable options. The debate now centres on whether the existing system can be salvaged or if, as Murtha proposes, a radical new approach is required.
