SOCIAL housing building has fallen by 77 per cent in the South West since 2010 say housing charity Shelter, which wants millions more built by 2040.

Just six social houses finished being built by Wiltshire Council last year, which echo figures released by the charity that show less than 1000 were built nationally.

While new social housing rates in Wiltshire dwindled from 504 in 2010 to six in 2018, the number of local authority built homes under the affordable housing banner has risen from 660 in 2010 to 1,081 by 2018.

In Wiltshire, social housing is defined as housing that costs 48 per cent of the market rent for an equivalent home, whereas affordable housing is 80 per cent of the market value.

Affordable housing also includes shared ownership schemes where owners rent part of the home and own part of it. Help to buy schemes also fall into the category.

Cuts to subsidies to build social housing has seen more affordable housing being built, as housing associations and local authorities attempt to keep up with demand for cheaper housing.

Richard Clewer, cabinet member for housing at Wiltshire Council said: “In an ideal world there would be more Government subsidies for social housing. I would like all homes built by the council to be social housing. But at the moment Wiltshire Council is building affordable houses because there is only enough subsidy to build housing at an affordable level.

“In some parts of Salisbury people are spending a lot on one or two bedroomed homes, even where they are classed as affordable. Some areas are significantly more affordable than others in the county. Whereas London and Manchester have a housing crisis, Wiltshire has a housing problem. Wiltshire Council has about 1700 people on the waiting list and an annual turn over of about 1500 people a year so that is working relatively well. I do not know where that figure of 3.1 million came from so I do not know if that is accurate.”

Shelter want to see 3.1 million more social housing built to support young families, old people and get homeless people off the streets through central government cash injection of £10.7bn.

Shelter has published ‘Building for our future: a vision for social housing’ which recommends the government invests in a major 20-year housebuilding programme.

The report was written by a group of 16 commissioners who are all experts in housing.

Among others they include, Ed Miliband MP, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, TV architect George Clarke, Lord Jim O’Neill and Grenfell survivor Ed Daffarn.

Commissioner Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: “Social mobility has been decimated by decades of political failure to address our worsening housing crisis. Half of young people cannot buy, and thousands face the horror of homelessness. Our vision for social housing presents a vital political opportunity to reverse this decay. We simply cannot afford not to act.”

Commissioner Lord Jim O’Neill said: “There needs to be a profound shift to see social housing as a national asset like any other infrastructure. A home is the foundation of individual success in life, and public housebuilding can be the foundation of national success.”