ALABARÉ Calls For Government to Maintain House-Building Targets Alongside New Social Housing Bill
We're cautiously welcoming the Government’s newly proposed Social Housing Renewal Bill, but warning it will only be successful if their commitments towards house-building are fulfilled.
ALABARÉ is cautiously welcoming the Government’s newly proposed Social Housing Bill, but we’re warning it will only be successful if their commitments towards house-building are fulfilled.
Announcements during the King’s Speech this week (13 May) aim to ‘protect much-needed social housing stock and thereby incentivise the building of more social rented homes’.
The Social Housing Bill includes plans to change the Right to Buy system so any new social housing has to remain in the stock for 35 years.
ALABARÉ’s services across the South West of England and Wales support people at risk of homelessness, including single adults, veterans, young people, such as care leavers, and expectant mums with their newborns.
Why the Social Housing Bill is important
For many of our clients, social housing is the likely next step in their journey towards independent living, having received support from staff about financial budgeting, accessing relevant benefits and promoting healthier living.
But they are experiencing long waits on the housing register, bidding on properties on a weekly basis, before being successfully placed, and that often has an impact on their mental health and resilience.
The most recent Government figures show that as of March 2025, a total of 1.34 million households were on local authority housing registers, with just 263,000 households receiving a new social letting.
The average waiting time to access social housing is almost three years.
What else is needed?
ALABARÉ is in support of the idea of the Social Housing Bill changing Right to Buy to increase stability for people living in social housing and to boost the stock for the long-term.
However, without sticking to previous commitments made by the Government, in which they pledged £39 billion towards new affordable and social housing construction over the next decade, the current waiting list cannot be diminished, contributing to an ongoing homelessness crisis.
Andrew Lord, ALABARÉ Chief Executive, said:
“We’re pleased to see the Government is taking the issue of social housing backlogs seriously, through the announcement of the Social Housing Bill and pledges to increase house building. These measures, along with the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Bill earlier this month, offer greater security for tenants across the private and public sectors and could help shape a more positive future for our clients as they move into independent living.
“It’s hugely important that building keeps up with demand. Initiatives like our award-winning Self-Build Scheme are proven to speed up the process for people in need of an affordable property. In turn, this is helping ALABARÉ clients to break the cycle of homelessness sooner, freeing up bedspaces to support even more at-risk people.”
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