• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Thursday, May 15, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

The government’s new social housing green paper makes a mockery of its pledge to end rough sleeping

Glen Black by Glen Black
14 August 2018
in Analysis, UK
Reading Time: 4 mins read
169 3
A A
0
Home UK Analysis
320
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Within hours of publishing its green paper on social housing, the government has been criticised for not increasing the number of “truly affordable homes” being built. And it makes a mockery of a recently announced strategy to end rough sleeping by 2027.

A so-called ‘new deal’

On 14 August, the government laid out what it describes as a “new deal” for social housing in England. It arrived three weeks later than initially promised. And its content has left housing campaigners angry at a lack of investment in social housing.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:

the lack of concrete plans to build significantly more truly affordable homes risks failing a generation… We urge the Government to invest in 80,000 genuinely affordable homes a year at the next Spending Review to put things right.

Crisis was equally critical, saying:

this green paper has to go further. In order to solve homelessness the government must also significantly increase England’s supply of social homes

And Shelter described the green paper as “full of warm words”:

The #SocialHousing Green Paper is out today: it’s full of warm words but doesn’t commit a single extra penny towards building the social homes that are desperately needed: https://t.co/g18MDK0U66

— Shelter (@Shelter) August 14, 2018

The green paper has been welcomed for strengthening rights for existing social housing tenants. But it appears to have ignored calls by campaigners for “significantly more” social housing to be built. The Chartered Institute of Housing says at least 78,000 more affordable homes need to be built each year. Crisis says at least “90,000 homes at social rent levels” are needed in England every year.

During the 2016/17 period, only around 5,000 social homes were built, according to Crisis.

And the aims set out in the green paper seem to contradict another recent government announcement: that it wants to end rough sleeping by 2027.

Social housing vs the private sector

Government figures estimate 4,751 people sleep rough at any one time. Crisis says numbers are more likely to be at least 8,000. Tackling these numbers means confronting the material conditions that cause people to sleep on the streets.

Social housing stock has consistently dwindled over the past 30 years. In 1980, there were approximately seven million council or housing association homes. By 2014 this had fallen to fewer than five million. Meanwhile, homes available in the private sector during the same period have jumped from two million to more than five million.

In March 2017, Crisis published its long-term study The Homelessness Monitor that highlighted spiralling private sector rents as the main driver behind homelessness. By late 2016, the ending of assured shorthold tenancies – the standard private rental contract – was responsible for 31% of the number of people becoming homeless. With fewer and fewer social housing options available, these figures can only increase.

Writing in the Guardian, Jon Sparkes – chief executive of Crisis – says:

The solutions are clear: to truly end the worst forms of homelessness the government must set out a bold, cross-departmental plan that does not shy away from tackling the real causes of homelessness, such as a severe shortage of social housing and cuts to welfare.

The latest green paper completely misses this opportunity. And in doing so, it undermines the government’s own claims to end rough sleeping.

No U-turns

Housing secretary James Brokenshire has rightly been interrogated over the government’s rough sleeping strategy. The Today programme’s Justin Webb asked the secretary about benefit cuts that have particularly affected single people in private housing. Brokenshire refused to comment on whether those cuts would be abandoned.

The social housing green paper appears to take a similar surface-level approach. Housing minister Kit Malthouse told the Today programme on 14 August that the government expects to build 6,000 social homes next year. And in 2021/22, the government expects to build just 12,500.

This green paper fails to combat the root of homelessness – and therefore rough sleeping – by avoiding a commitment to make social housing more widely available. And it once again shows up Conservative hypocrisy.

Get Involved!

– Find your local grassroots soup kitchens. Volunteer with or donate to them. They provide not just food to people sleeping on the streets but emotional, practical and financial support as well.

– Join or support unions fighting for tenants, such as ACORN and London Renters Union. Also check out Defend Council Housing.

– Turf out the Tories.

Featured image via Lydia/Flickr

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

The UK needs a People’s Vote on Brexit, and Scotland needs another independence referendum

Next Post

An activist is hitting Twitter where it hurts in the war against far-right conspiracy sites

Next Post
Alex Jones of InfoWars and the Twitter logo

An activist is hitting Twitter where it hurts in the war against far-right conspiracy sites

Crowd at Boardmasters and Jeremy Corbyn

The mainstream media would probably rather you didn't see this clip of thousands chanting for Jeremy Corbyn

Boris Johnson

A former BBC producer just lifted the wig on Boris Johnson’s 'bumbling idiot' act

Homeless man - Analysis

A Conservative council is under fire for 'turning people away' from its half-empty homeless shelter

Jeremy Corbyn

The shameless media assault to smear Jeremy Corbyn is falling apart before our eyes

The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

by The Canary
14 May 2025
EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

by The Canary
14 May 2025
Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

by Jamie Driscoll
14 May 2025
As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji
Opinion

As an ACTUAL GENOCIDE continues, its apologists come for Gary Lineker over an emoji

by Ed Sykes
14 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

The British Museum just held an event with the Israeli embassy - and the Met police responded by repressing Palestine protesters
News
The Canary

British Museum holds event with the Israeli embassy – so Met Police respond by repressing Palestine protesters

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer's in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London
Analysis
Ed Sykes

EXPOSED: the public is paying for Keir Starmer’s in-laws to live virtually rent-free in London

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour's DWP benefit cuts
News
The Canary

People are coming together on 7 June to oppose Labour’s DWP benefit cuts

Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech: channeling the racist rhetoric of Enoch Powell
Opinion
Jamie Driscoll

Is Keir Starmer capable of killing?

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

Tech
Nathan Spears

How Digital Addictions Are Formed in the Shadow of Large Platforms

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub