Bristol housing campaigner hits out over Government’s social housing plans

Bristol Shelter campaigner Amanda Wall, who lived with mould and damp for several years before officially becoming homeless, has criticised the Government's social housing plans. Rachel Reeves delivered her first budget as chancellor last month but did not pledge to meet Shelter's demand of building a minimum of 90,000 homes per year for the next ten years.

The Government’s current housing package includes the delivery of up to 5,000 new affordable social homes but the full details of its housing strategy are set to be announced in the spring. Shelter has previously highlighted the fact that since the 1980s Britain has lost more social housing than it has built.

The Bristol Green Party, who now hold a majority in the city council, celebrated the ‘good news’ on X several weeks ago that Bristol will get nearly £2.5m to deliver 171 new homes on disused brownfield sites. But for Amanda, who highlights the fact that there are currently 22,000 households on the housing waiting list in Bristol, the figure is not only insignificant but currently no information has been provided on the makeup of the housing.

READ MORE: Snow forecast for Bristol as white stuff set to hit city

READ MORE: Live: Bristol set for flurry of snowfall as temperatures plummet towards freezing

“There is no mention in these figures of whether these are social homes, housing associations or council housing. In my experience we are fed lip service and never given any proof,“ said the local campaigner who has created her own show on the realities of life in temporary housing from the perspective of Bristol families.

The local campaigner who took Shelter’s Winter Campaign Petition to Downing Street and created the show FEAR (Families Emergency Accommodation Restart) is now writing to Prince William and Angela Rayner to arrange an appointment.

Amanda said: “I personally want to know what happened with regards to the 9,990 signatures I raised on my campaign. I am also the face of the Winter Campaign for Shelter again, as I know this is way not over yet and until I see facts and figures I will continue to make a noise. Angela Rayner's speech features in my show FEAR where she talks about getting Britain back to building and the importance of new social homes."

The Government's failure to increase the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) has been raised by The Resolution Foundation, whose figures show this continues to cause a shortfall for private tenants receiving housing benefit in places like Bristol where rents in the private sector have risen dramatically in recent years. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary confirmed the day after the Budget that the housing benefit allowance given to councils will be frozen until 2026.

Shelter has stated that in order for the Government to adequately tackle the housing crisis and make a dent on the 151,630 children living in temporary accommodation in England then it should be building 90,000 social homes a year. The autumn budget includes a top up to the existing Affordable Homes Programme of £500m and pledges to build 1.5 million new homes but has put a figure of 5,000 for the delivery of new affordable social homes.

The Right to Buy (RtB) discount which is currently a maximum of £102,400 in the South West will be reduced back to pre-2012 rates, giving buyers a maximum discount of £30,000 from November 21. Although the increases in RtB discounts which were introduced in 2012 came with a one-for-one replacement target, between April 2012 and March 2024 there have been over 124,000 council RtB sales, with fewer than 48,000 homes replaced.

In response to the Chancellor’s Budget, Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “With homelessness at record levels and a temporary accommodation bill in the billions, we desperately need investment in genuinely affordable social homes. The government's announcements to top up the Affordable Homes Programme and limit Right to Buy are the first steps in delivering these.

“A chronic shortage of social homes, combined with rocketing private rents, is tearing communities apart - pricing families out of their local areas and pushing over 151,00 children into homelessness. Families are forced to live out of suitcases, stuck in grotty homeless accommodation for years.

“Building social housing saves the taxpayer money, boosts jobs, reduces the burden of poor housing on our NHS and, crucially, will end homelessness for good. The money freed up by today’s changes to fiscal rules should now be used at the Spring Spending Review to deliver the 90,000 social homes a year this country needs.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves said: “We need to fix the housing crisis in this country. It’s created a generation locked out of the property market, torn apart communities and put the brakes on economic growth.

“We are rebuilding Britain by ramping up housebuilding and delivering the 1.5 million new homes we so badly need.”