A new report, Building post-pandemic prosperity, commissioned by the Local Government Association, the Association of Retained Council Housing, and the National Federation of ALMOs, sets out the case for building 100,000 green social homes for rent each year as part of the recovery from COVID-19, to deliver net-zero housing and “level-up” the nation. It comes at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is due to double council house waiting lists.

It also reveals that as a result of the pandemic, council housing waiting lists could almost double next year to as many as 2.1 million households, due to the impact of Covid-related support schemes winding down, the cost-of-living crisis and an expected increase in homelessness.

The LGA called on the Chancellor to use last October’s Spending Review to give councils the powers and funding to build 100,000 social homes for rent each year, which would not only achieve a third of the Government’s annual housing target but improve the public finances over 30 years by £24.5 billion.

The LGA also said the delivery of 100,000 new social homes a year would bring a raft of significant environmental benefits that would support the Government’s net-zero ambitions. It said that a family moving from an old, poorly insulated and fossil-fuel heated home into a modern home with a heat pump could save up to £500 a year.

Cllr David Renard, LGA housing spokesperson, said:

“There is a desperate need to build more social housing in this country, which should be a central part of the Government’s ambition to level-up and build back better following the pandemic. Social housing gives families the security and stability of a decent home.

“Now is the time to reverse the decline in council housing over the past few decades. Councils stand ready to work with the Government to tackle our housing crisis, but need the powers to build homes with the right infrastructure on this scale in the Spending Review.”

Rishi Sunak chose to completely reject the LGA’s proposal and instead acquiesced to Boris Johnson’s whim that housing associations should be targeted for a sell-off in a renewed push of the right-to-buy scheme, which would significantly worsen the overall situation.

Sarita-Marie Rehman Wall, NFA Chair and Tenant Board Member, said:

“The struggle to find a good home, and a home you can afford, is now very real and very tough for millions of people. Our national housing shortage isn’t just hitting one small group. It is creating hardship for all kinds of people in all walks of life, whether we’re talking about young people just heading out into adult or family life, or older people whose income drops at the very time when their need for support and the right kind of home increases.

“The housing struggle is also real for many of our key workers, who have to manage on less than generous wages, and for those who work 40 hours a week and still can’t manage without help. This report shows how the whole country is suffering in some way from a lack of investment in social housing.”

For council house waiting lists to double in the space of a year due to a catastrophic cost-of-living squeeze only demonstrates that the government needs to rethink its housing strategy to something more compatible to the needs of the nation – than simply pushing for a sell-off that achieves nothing in real terms for either local authorities or indeed the taxpayer.