Blackpool: Only one social home built in last decade - Shelter

Some former hotel buildings in Blackpool are left derelict by land owners, rather than being turned into affordable accomodation for residents

Just one home for social rent has been built in a seaside town in the last decade, housing charity Shelter claimed.

Nearly 1,000 social homes in Blackpool were sold or demolished between 2013 and 2023, with 923 homes removed from social rent, according to its research.

Shelter said thousands remained on the waiting list for social housing.

The town's council said it had built more than 700 new homes "for affordable rent" in the last ten years.

Shelter defines affordable rent properties as different to social housing.

Affordable rents are capped at up to 80% of market value, and while the rents are "more secure than typical private tenancies", they are "less secure" than social tenancies, the charity's website states.

Over 7,000 households are on the social housing waiting list in Blackpool, Shelter's analysis of government statistics showed.

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Describing the housing situation in Blackpool as "completely unacceptable", the charity said over 20,500 households privately rent in Blackpool, with 74% relying on housing benefit to help cover rent costs.

"There has only been one social home built in Blackpool in the last 10 years.

"Thousands of people are waiting on waiting lists in Blackpool," Shelter's Emma Garner told BBC Lancashire.

"In our services, we regularly hear from families in Blackpool who are stuck in grotty and cramped temporary accommodation or struggling to afford yet another rent increase.

"There are no social homes available to them," she added.

She called on politicians at a local and national level "to look at all options to increase the affordable housing available in Blackpool".

Shelter says some people in Blackpool "are stuck in grotty and cramped temporary accommodation" due to a lack of social housing

Cllr Lynn Williams, Blackpool Council's leader, said she was "surprised" by Shelter's report.

"Almost £60 million has been invested in the construction of hundreds of new council homes at Queens Park, Mereside and Grange Park.

"Over the past decade more than 700 new homes have been built and made available for affordable rent in Blackpool", she said in a statement.

"It is disappointing and frustrating to see our efforts underplayed by what is entirely misleading data. Shelter should be applauding the work we are doing rather than seeking to undermine it", Cllr Williams said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities said: "Our Long-Term Plan for Housing will support the delivery of more homes, including additional social housing.

"Since 2010, we have delivered over 696,100 new affordable homes - of which over 172,600 are for social rent - and we are on track to deliver on our target for new social homes.

"Last year saw the highest year on record for affordable housing delivery, with a 12% increase in starts to the previous year, and our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will go further in delivering the genuinely affordable homes the country needs."