Huge drop in Shropshire social housing building
Just 15 homes for social rental were built in Shropshire across 2017/18 and 53 in Telford, new figures have revealed.
In addition to those completed last year, 110 social rental homes were started in Telford & Wrekin and four in Shropshire.
It is a massive drop in Shropshire, where in 2010/11 258 were completed – more than in the last seven years combined.
In Telford, social rental building peaked in 1994/95, when 353 homes were completed, more than in the last four years combined.
Despite that, 475 affordable housing units were built in Shropshire and 414 in Telford.
Across the country, the number of completed social homes each year has dropped nearly 80 per cent in the last decade.
The Chartered Institute of Housing has criticised the slowdown in building the most affordable properties, saying they are needed to tackle a national housing crisis.
Nearly 27,000 affordable homes were completed across England last year, an increase of 10 per cent on 2016-17.
Disappointing
Melanie Rees, Chartered Institute of Housing head of policy and external affairs, said: “Another year-on-year increase in the total number of affordable homes being built is a welcome step, but we still have a long way to go.
“It’s disappointing to see that so few of those homes are at the lowest social rents - the only truly affordable option for many people on lower incomes.
“We desperately need more genuinely affordable homes to tackle our national housing crisis and rising levels of homelessness.”
Ms Rees said that CIH research showed more than 150,000 homes for social rent were lost between 2012 and 2017, with the figure anticipated to reach 230,000 by 2020 unless immediate action is taken.
Housing minister Kit Malthouse, said: “We are determined that more people in need can have access to a good quality home, and have delivered over 293,000 homes for affordable rent since 2010.
“But we must go further and by scrapping the borrowing cap for local authorities, we have set them free to build thousands of new council homes across the country, and our £9 billion Affordable Homes programme will deliver at least a further 12,500 social rent homes in the areas where they are needed most."
