Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • News

More than 1 in 10 new affordable homes lost to building safety costs

Open-access content Thursday 21st October 2021
web_cladding_shutterstock_1647353392 (1).png

In response to the current building safety crisis, housing associations estimate they will have to spend in excess of £10bn to make all their buildings safe over the next decade. – Shutterstock

More than one in 10 (11 per cent) new affordable homes to rent and buy in England can no longer be built owing to the costs of making buildings safe following the Grenfell Tower fire, according to research by the National Housing Federation (NHF).

A survey of 106 housing associations found that 61 have discovered dangerous materials on their buildings since the fire, despite having been signed off as meeting building requirements at the time they were built. Without additional funding for safety work, these not-for-profit organisations are having to cut plans to build 12,900 new affordable homes over the next five years in order to prioritise spending on building safety.

They had been planning to build 116,777 affordable homes over this time. Housing associations built 25 per cent of all new homes in England last year, and this includes the vast majority of new affordable homes.

Housing associations surveyed said that the most affordable type of housing – homes for social rent – will be the worst affected. This is because housing associations build most social rent homes with their own income, rather than with government grants. The cost of rent in socially rented homes is typically 50 per cent of market rent, making it the most affordable and secure type of housing for people on low incomes and homeless people.

Mounting building safety costs are also affecting housing associations’ ability to invest in the upkeep of the homes they already own, where social housing residents live. Those surveyed said they are having to divert £730 million away from routine maintenance work, such as upgrading bathrooms or kitchens, to pay for essential building safety work.

In response to the current building safety crisis, housing associations estimate that they will have to spend in excess of £10 billion to make all their buildings safe over the next decade. As not-for-profit organisations, they are having to divert this money – which is largely from the rents of their social housing residents – away from investment in existing social homes and building much-needed new affordable housing.

By comparison, profit-making private developers and cladding manufacturers, which constructed these unsafe buildings and produced unsafe and flammable materials, say they are setting aside only £643 million from their profits to cover building safety costs.

There are 3.8 million people in need of social housing in England – 500,000 more than are officially recorded on council waiting lists. The severe shortage of social homes is causing rising levels of overcrowding and homelessness. Low-income families are increasingly forced to live in expensive and insecure private rented homes, at risk of becoming homeless if they cannot afford the rent.

In February, the government made £3.5 billion of additional funding available for homeowners to remove dangerous non-ACM cladding from high-rise buildings. However, there is no funding to remove this cladding from buildings where social housing residents live, or for other safety works beyond cladding.

The National Housing Federation is calling on the government to fund the upfront costs of all fire safety works on behalf of social housing residents and leaseholders and claim this money back from those responsible such as private developers and manufacturers, once works are completed.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “This research shows that the costs of making buildings safe will be borne by the poorest people in our society for many years to come.

“Not-for-profit housing associations are putting their residents’ safety first, but without funding they are left with no choice but to divert money away from building new social housing for those most in need. It is simply not right that people who are at no fault and on the lowest incomes in this country are left to shoulder these costs.

“Those responsible for this crisis, developers of unsafe homes and manufacturers of dangerous materials, must be made to pay. In the meantime, we urge the government to do the right thing, and fully fund the upfront costs of making buildings safe.”

Image credit | Shutterstock

Today's top news stories

Discrimination concept LGBT

1 in 5 workplaces do not have LGBT support policies

One in five (21%) workplaces do not have any policies in place to support their lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) staff at work, according to a new poll published this week.
Surveys
Thursday 30th June 2022
Open-access content
chefs working in a kitchen © Shutterstock

3 key priorities to save UK hospitality businesses

The profitability of hospitality businesses across the UK is “plummeting”, according to a new survey by the British Beer and Pub Association, British Institute of Innkeeping and UKHospitality.
Surveys
Thursday 30th June 2022
Open-access content
Royal College of Physicians reappoints CBRE to TFM contract at its HQ

Royal College of Physicians reappoints CBRE to TFM contract at its HQ

CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) has been reappointed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) to provide total facilities management (FM) at its St Andrew’s Place headquarters in Regent’s Park, London.
Thursday 30th June 2022
Open-access content
Houston & Hawkes B Corp

Catering firm Houston & Hawkes achieves B Corp status

Houston & Hawkes has announced that its business has become B Corp certified,
Thursday 30th June 2022
Open-access content
web_working-from-home_credit_iStock-1210442243.png

Future of work still 'undecided'

New data from the professional body for HR and people development shows that more than three-quarters of organisations have embraced hybrid working through a mix of formal and informal arrangements.
Reports
Wednesday 29th June 2022
Open-access content
Net Zero goals are being missed.

UK is failing to meet Net Zero targets, says Climate Change Committee

A new progress report by the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) finds "major failures" in delivery programmes towards the achievement of the UK’s climate goals.
Reports
Wednesday 29th June 2022
Open-access content
Filed in:
News

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Project Leader (Maternity Cover One Year Contract)

Cambridge
Circa £50,000 Pro Rata + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56378

Maintenance Supervisor

Surrey
Up to £43,000 + Excellent Package & Opportunities
Reference
56376

Regional Facilities Manager

South West England
Circa £40,000 + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56375
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2022 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ