Insights

The social housing sector in the UK is currently experiencing a huge imbalance between supply and demand. Due to the constant increase of the cost of living, more and more people are facing chronic difficulties in affording suitable housing. Following this, the UK government are not providing enough accommodation to match the needs of these vulnerable families.

In 2021, over £1.4 billion was spent on temporary accommodation in the UK by the local authorities. This was to accommodate vulnerable people in overnight stays such as hotels, B&B’s and hostels as there isn’t enough supply of social housing properties to give them a home for the longer term. Local authorities must provide people at risk of homelessness nightly accommodation in order to protect them from having nowhere to sleep, offering unsuitable accommodation for people who require homes in the UK.

The average salary in the UK has not risen at the same rate as the cost of living, therefore the need for social housing continues to grow as people struggle to earn enough money to pay rent, utility bills, council tax and food costs. This is one of the major factors contributing to the current social housing waiting list of over 1.4 million people.

Only 7,000 social homes were built in 2020, significantly lower than the estimated 90,000 required per year to balance the supply vs demand crisis. Many of the people who aren’t provided a social home by the UK government end up in temporary accommodation, which is seen as vastly unsuitable for their needs and costs the government massively every year whilst the waiting list for long term social housing constantly grows larger.