3 hours ago
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Growing up, I remember how important our home was to my family. I know I get raised eyebrows now when I mention that pebble-dashed semi, but that doesn’t negate the point. Our house was not just a roof over our heads – it was our home. A place of security and a focal point for our family. A place to build out from and hope for a better future.
So it is simply shocking that under the long years of Tory rule, so many people across our country were left without a stable place to call their own. Children were left languishing in temporary accommodation, too often without proper places to play, eat and sleep. Families were left in limbo on waiting lists for years. Young care leavers were denied a permanent place to live. And, incredibly, domestic abuse survivors found themselves forced out of their homes because landlords lacked the powers to make their abuser the one who must leave.
None of this is right or fair: and it’s been brought about by underfunding, systemic failure and a lack of building, particularly when it comes to social housing, where too much of the stock was sold off at huge discounts without ever being replaced. That’s why when this government came into power, we pledged the biggest increase in social and affordable homes for a generation.
The statistics speak for themselves. For the year 2024-25, council housebuilding in England hit its highest level in almost 40 years, with more than 10,000 new council homes built. That’s more homes for families, more people off council waiting lists, and more homes for those in urgent need. But that’s not all. In the same period, we’ve seen almost 65,000 affordable homes delivered in England, including more than 12,000 for social rent – the most in over a decade.
Now, in an ideal world I want working people to own their own home. Home ownership provides the ultimate security. That is why we are radically reforming planning rules to reverse the dire housing crisis in this country. We have targeted 1.5m new homes this parliament and we will break our backs trying to meet that goal.
But social housing is vital too. We need to build more and we will. Yet for a long time we’ve also been losing social homes faster than they have been replaced, pushing families into unsuitable temporary accommodation or on to waiting lists for a home that may never be built.
We know that over more than four decades, right to buy has massively depleted council housing stock – and continues to do so now, at a time when 1.3m households are on waiting lists in England and more than 175,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.
Meanwhile, the housing benefit bill has risen to their highest levels in real terms since comparable records began in 1970. Over 40% of right to buy homes are now in the private rented sector, with more than 2m homes sold since the 1980s. This decline must be stopped, because social housing is not just about bricks and mortar: it is about families, young people, and the vulnerable getting the security, stability and dignity they deserve.
So today, after our good start, we’re going further to fix this crisis: we’re going to get councils building again. Through our £39bn social and affordable homes programme we will inject record investment into the system and deliver a programme of mass council housebuilding.
There will be new rules specifically designed to support councils, including flexibility on grant rates to deliver a programme of mass council housebuilding. And the appetite so far has been overwhelming, with councils across the country answering our call for ambition.
The King’s Speech last month also protects existing social homes by reforming right to buy. Through our social housing renewal bill, we will increase the eligibility requirement for right to buy to 10 years, and amend discounts that previous governments increased that reached up to £136,400 for homes in London and £102,400 elsewhere. We will also exempt newly built social housing for 35 years. This will help stop the slow sell-off of social homes while supporting home ownership for long-term tenants.
And, finally, we will end the appalling situation, whereby those fleeing domestic abuse find they are the ones who have to leave their home. Landlords will get new powers to evict the domestic abuse perpetrators. And victims will get to keep their home.
For decades, the Tories have waged an ideological war on the idea of social housing, leaving many families stranded without support or security. This government is ending that and beginning a radical programme of rebuilding. This is Labour values in action. We want everyone, no matter their background or circumstance, to have a secure place of their own.
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Keir Starmer is the UK prime minister
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