Social rents are 64% more affordable than private rents, with social tenants in England paying about £828 less each month than private tenants, according to new analysis by Shelter.

The charity says if more social housing was available, renters in London would be more than £1,400 better off a month, those in the East of England would be £630 better off, while South East renters would be £730 better off.

According to government data, the mean weekly rent of all new social housing lettings in England is £105 a week (£457 a month) while the mean monthly rent in private tenancies in England is £1,285.

Waiting lists

But with 1.3 million households on a social housing waiting list in England and private rents hitting record highs, an increasing number of people are being priced out and tipped into homelessness, it reports. A record 145,800 children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation with their families.  

Shelter argues that a new generation of genuinely affordable social homes is essential to insulate families from homelessness and keep communities together.

Its research looked at people who had moved from private renting into a social home in the last 10 years and found that 74% were now less worried about having to move while 71% had more stability in their life.  

Chief executive Polly Neate (pictured) says: “Decades of failure to build genuinely affordable social homes has left the country in a dire state. Now that a general election has been called, we cannot afford to waste any time. All political parties must commit to building genuinely affordable social homes - we need 90,000 a year over 10 years to end the housing emergency for good.”