Social housing crisis looms amid spending cut fears

England is facing a social housing crisis if the government pushes ahead with cuts in the spending review, Rachel Reeves has been warned.

- DAVID MADDOX MILLIE COOKE

It comes as the struggle between the Treasury and Angela Rayner's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government over its budget continues, just days before Ms Reeves is set to outline the spending plans until the next election on Wednesday.

With no agreement having been reached on housing, the chief executive of one of Britain’s largest housing associations has raised fears of a “cliff edge” over building more homes – which means money is set to run out by 2026.

The warning from Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of L&Q and until last week chair of the G15 group of London housing associations, comes as the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that 51 per cent of councils are now running deficits on their housing budgets.

Homeless charities are also warning of an impending crisis, with new supply unable to keep up with increasing demand for social housing.

Crisis has pointed out that over the past 10 years, there has been a net loss of more than 180,000 social homes in England. Currently, 1.33 million households in England are currently stuck on council waiting lists for a social home.

Ms Fletcher-Smith explained that the problem began with George Osborne’s austerity budgets in 2010, when he slashed 63 per cent of the capital budget to build new homes.