Bishops alarmed over impact of cuts on affordable housing

Bishops in the Church of England have expressed their concern over the Government’s decision to halve capital investment in affordable homes.

The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith, will warn a conference on the future of the countryside this week that the cut could leave nearly half a million rural households without housing in the next quarter of a century.

The bishop will express his support for the decision to allow councils to keep their income from rented property for use in the maintenance of homes for current and future tenants.

However he will admit his concerns that the proposed construction of around 37,500 new homes a year will not be enough to cover the more than 470,000 people currently on local authority waiting lists in rural England.

“Homelessness fell in the five years to 2009,” he will say. “Unless we can increase the building of new affordable housing where it is needed most, we risk the figures rising again.”

The Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev John Hind, said the cut outlined in last week’s Comprehensive Spending Review had dealt a “serious blow” to the provision of affordable housing.

He expressed concern over the impact of the cut on poorer people in rural areas and called upon Christians to help to ensure that resources were used in a “locally focused” way.

“I hope that all Christians in our rural communities will be advocates for affordable housing in their localities and keep highlighting the needs for such housing not just for the direct benefit of the less well off, but also for the wellbeing and balance of society as a whole,” he said.