By The Liberal Democrats are urging the government to allow local authorities to purchase land at reduced prices to facilitate the construction of more social housing. This call comes in response to revelations that over 80% of councils have people on their social housing waiting lists for more than a decade.
Surging Social Housing Demand
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by the Liberal Democrats have exposed the severity of the social housing crisis. Data from 119 councils revealed that 98 of them have individuals who have been on waiting lists for over 10 years. Additionally, the total number of people on social housing waiting lists has surged by more than 13% since 2018/19, rising from 325,395 to 368,975—a nearly 44,000 increase.
Gateshead saw the most significant increase, with its waiting list doubling from 7,115 in 2018/19 to 14,370 in the last financial year. Oadby and Wigston, among six other councils, also reported more than double the number of people on their waiting lists over the same period. Over 75% of councils that responded to the FOI have seen an increase in their social housing waiting lists in the past six years.
Calls for Reform
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to amend the Land Compensation Act, which currently forces councils to purchase land at its “hope value”—a price based on speculative future developments rather than its current value. This practice significantly hampers local authorities’ ability to acquire land for social housing.
Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrats’ Housing spokesperson, emphasized the urgent need for reform: “These figures are staggering and should act as a wake-up call. The security of a roof over your head is vital for families, that’s why ministers need to put family needs over developer greed.”
Morgan also criticized the government’s planning policies, stating that they “hamstrung” councils by making land unaffordable, while also highlighting the need for increased funding to enable cash-strapped councils to build more social homes.
Government Under Fire
The FOI data release coincides with criticism of Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who recently returned hundreds of millions of pounds earmarked for housing projects back to the Treasury. Morgan accused the Conservative government of exacerbating the housing crisis by prioritizing developer interests over the needs of families.
“The Conservative government made the housing crisis worse by allowing greedy developers to get their way and fail to build the actual homes we need. It is time for change with genuinely affordable housing and a wave of new social homes,” Morgan concluded.
The Liberal Democrats’ push for land reform and increased funding for social housing underscores the growing urgency to address the deepening housing crisis across the UK.
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