The National Housing Federation today published it’s annual People in Housing Need report, drawn from analysis by I-SPHERE’s Professor Glen Bramley.  The research finds that the true number of people in need of social housing in England has now hit 3.8m. This equates to 1.6m households – 500,000 more than the 1.16m households recorded on official waiting lists.  It is projected that these numbers will continue to rise on the back of the COVID pandemic.

Headline data in the report includes:

• For more than 3.8 million of the 8million people in need, social rented housing would be the most appropriate tenure to address that need.
• While the overall number of people in need has fallen since 2015/16, the number for whom social rent is most appropriate has risen.
• Nearly 1.9 million households are hosting a ‘concealed’ household.
• Overcrowding affects 3.4 million people, a 5% increase on the previous figures
• 2.7 million people were found to have an affordability issue – up nearly 10%

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said:

“Today’s report shows that the sharp end of the housing crisis is getting sharper, and at a rapid rate. Under-investment in social housing has left us with virtually no affordable homes available for people on the lowest incomes.  The real tragedy is that these are same people impacted the most by the coronavirus crisis, which had led to huge job losses for low income workers. When the government’s Job Retention Scheme and ban on evictions end, we are likely to see people in need of social housing skyrocket.
Everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable home and social housing provides that vital safety net for low income people including thousands of key workers who have been keeping our country going at this time. We are calling on the government to commit to a once-in-a-generation investment in social housing and put homes at the heart of its plans for economic and social recovery.”

A coalition of charities, businesses, banks, and think tanks has launched a campaign calling on the government to put building social homes at the heart of its plans for from recovery from the coronavirus crisis. The Homes at the Heart campaign is a partnership between Chartered Institute of Housing, Crisis, National Federation of ALMOs, Association of Retained Council Housing and National Housing Federation; along with over 60 supporters from across different sectors – from Carers UK to NatWest.  Find out more here.

The full report is available here.