Six in 10 MPs say housing associations need more funding

This rises to nearly nine in 10 Labour MPs who said housing associations needed more funding, compared with two in five Conservative MPs.

Returning to the public, support for investment in social housing was higher among younger voters, with 48% of voters aged over 55 in favour, rising to 52% of 35 to 54-year-olds and 61% of 18 to 34-year-olds.

Half of white voters were more likely to back a party that invests more in social housing, while 64% of Asian voters and 71% of Black voters would do so.

Two in five of 18 to 34-year-olds said they had postponed life decisions, such as starting a family, because of uncertainty around where they would live.

Across all age groups, a quarter of people in England said they had delayed a life decision because of housing uncertainty. This increased to two in five people in London.

When extrapolated across the population of England, the 25% equated to 14.1 million people putting their lives on hold due to inadequate housing, and more than 4.7 million adults under 35.

Hyde said political parties should commit to investing in social rented homes, a long-term rent settlement for housing associations and funding to accompany the Decent Homes Standard, which the government is currently reviewing.

According to YouGov, housing is now the fourth most significant issue for British people and the fastest growing major issue Britain faces.

Andy Hulme, chief executive of Hyde, said the main political parties “have to start listening”.

He said: “Not only is setting out a clear plan to build more and invest in affordable and social housing the right thing to do, but this polling shows it’s a vote winner, too.

“We need to be building around 90,000 more socially rented homes every year to meet existing need. But to get anywhere near this, we need more public investment, which will give the sector confidence and unlock an even larger amount of private investment.”