The number of new homes built for social rent has fallen 79 per cent over the past decade, according to MHCLG Affordable Housing Supply statistics.

The latest official figures from the Local Authority Housing Register for England show that the average local authority has over 3,500 families on its council housing waiting list. In England alone, 1.25 million families remained on the waiting list for social housing between 2016-17. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of families had been waiting for a home for more than a year.

Scape Group recently surveyed local authority officers with management responsibility for housing in their council. It found that 100 per cent would like to be able to fund and build more housing for social rent directly in their area. Also, 35 per cent believed that the skills shortage within the construction industry was one of the main barriers preventing councils from building more housing in their area, and 24 per cent commented that slow construction was a major barrier, rising to 42 per cent in the Midlands, Eastern England, and Yorkshire.

Mark Robinson, Scape Group chief executive, commented:

“To return to the halcyon days of social rented housing construction, local authorities must find a way to persuade Government they are best positioned to address the challenge and that they have a credible plan to achieve results.

“Local authorities will need to demonstrate they have a plan to circumvent problems, such as the skills shortage in the construction industry, that could hold back a huge increase in the construction of social rented homes.

“So to truly see a revolution in council building, the Government needs to consider ways of adjusting the planning system to create fast track routes for modular homes to be built.”