BASW General Election Blog: Investing in Good Quality Housing

BASW has set out 40 priorities for the next UK Government that we’ll be highlighted to all political parties ahead of the General Election. Our blog series takes a deeper look at each of the policy asks in turn.
Manifesto UK

Substantial and on-going investment in increasing the amount of good-quality social housing in the UK

The provision of suitable, affordable housing plays a vital role in supporting individuals and families, it is thus of central importance to social work and social workers. Social work looks at the needs of the whole person, and housing is part of meeting those needs. Suitable, affordable housing is crucial to effective support and ensuring everyone can be a participating member of society: for example, in terms of adult social care, care leavers, people with mental health problems or families in need. 

The housing crisis in the UK continues to deepen, and successive governments have failed to address it. There has been a significant reduction in social housing of 1.2 million homes since 1979, and there has been no serious drive to increase supply since then. This has resulted in an inadequate supply of affordable housing as private landlords filled the gap and have no restrictions on the private rents that they can charge. 

For those on low incomes who cannot afford rent increases, this can lead to a risk of overcrowding or homelessness. Rising homelessness and inadequate housing will add to local authority homeless lists, further straining the limited support that they are able to provide. 

Building more private housing will not address the crisis in housing unless the cost is controlled, and a key way to do this is by building more social housing that is affordable and of a good quality. 

Read BASW's Housing and Homelessness Position Statement and Recommendations which explores how the housing situation in the UK got to this point and sets out the necessary changes to improve the situation together with recommendations for social work practice.

BASW England also has a reflective guide for social workers and social work managers to support good practice with parents and children receiving social work support for whom homelessness or housing issues are a notable factor.