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UK housing minister makes misleading claim about ‘increase’ in social homes

Lee Rowley said Tories had built 700,000 social homes but made no reference to plummeting stock of social rent homes

By Ruby Lott-Lavigna and Sam Gelder
UK housing minister makes misleading claim about ‘increase’ in social homes
UK housing minister Lee Rowley, pictured in his official parliamentary portrait | Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) / UK Parliament
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The UK housing minister has been called out for boasting about a “significant increase” in social housing under the Conservative government when in reality the supply of social rented homes has plummeted.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about social rent housing tenants facing sanction for anti-social behaviour, Lee Rowley rejected claims the Tories had not built enough social housing since 2010.

Britain’s housing minister said: “We’ve built nearly 700,000 social homes, including 170,000 for social rent. So there’s been a significant increase in social housing over the last 14 years, just as there’s been a significant increase in housing overall.”

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