A year is a long time in housing

A significant amount of the housing-related data we publish in the review does not exist anywhere else. The live tables on the government’s website, unlike the review’s, do not provide historic data and can be difficult to navigate.

I’m so grateful for the labour of love the people who produce this report pour into the project year in, year out. This year’s edition was the first without a substantial contribution from the review’s first editor, Steve Wilcox, and I would like to say an enormous thank you to him for his quarter-century of service to the housing sector in the UK.

I want to turn to a few of the highlights in this year’s review. We ventured into new territory with analysis on the rapid growth and impact of short-term lets across the UK, especially those made via Airbnb.

While this has been a boon to tourists and landlords, the analysis warned us of the risks of the loss of private rented homes to the short-term lets market and displacement of long-term residents from their communities if this type of accommodation is left unregulated.

The rise of short-term lets is a highly localised phenomenon, and in those areas most affected, more regulation could be necessary if growth continues and local authorities still have no way to monitor numbers accurately.

The review was published shortly after the chancellor’s announcement of more government spending on housing in the form of the £3bn Affordable Homes Guarantees Scheme, the details of which are yet to be made available.

“To truly tackle our housing crisis, we need to build the right homes, in the right places, at the right prices”

However, as our analysis shows, government investment remains disproportionately in favour of private housing, with only 21% of the total of more than £70bn up to 2022/23 going towards affordable housing.

To truly tackle our housing crisis, we need to build the right homes, in the right places, at the right prices. For many people on lower incomes, the only genuinely affordable option is social rent – and the review shows that the government could invest more in the homes that we so desperately need, not necessarily by committing new funds, but by addressing this disparity. It’s particularly urgent considering that we need 90,000 new homes per year at the lowest social rent.

The review notes the fairly positive direction that social housing policy has taken in recent years. The policy shifts have leaned towards social rented housing in England, with grant funding now being available and conversions to affordable rent falling sharply.

However, in England, while last August’s Social Housing Green Paper had been signalled as a “wide-ranging, top-to-bottom review”, in practice it had important gaps, such as not setting out a renewed purpose for social housing despite promises by the prime minister. We must now reclaim social housing as a pillar of the society we want to be, along with healthcare and education.

I have spoken before about the potential roles social housing can play – should it be an ‘ambulance service’, a ‘safety net’, or should it have a wider affordability role? We strongly believe that, as well as supporting people when they are most in need, social housing should have a wider affordability role – catering for a range of income groups, encouraging higher standards and curbing excessive price rises.

“We must now reclaim social housing as a pillar of the society we want to be, along with healthcare and education”

This position also enjoys strong public support: for our ‘Rethinking social housing’ research, a survey carried out last year by Ipsos MORI showed that 78% of those polled agree that social housing should be available to people who cannot afford the cost of renting privately, as well as those people and families needing additional support.

Looking ahead, I think the review does a great job of boiling down the various 2018 policy papers and capturing the key themes emerging for the immediate future. These include deciding what social housing is for, ensuring that tenants have a stronger voice, increasing the supply of affordable housing, and addressing the stigma and stereotyping that afflict social housing and its tenants.

Terrie Alafat, chief executive, Chartered Institute of Housing