We need to build 90,000 social rent homes a year in England to address the chronic shortage across the country and alleviate decades of undersupply. Instead, in 2021/22 the new homes built were outpaced by the demolition and sale of social housing stock . In effect, we’ve turned the tap of social rent homes down to a trickle, having also taken out the plug. This has led to a structural deficit in UK social rent housing.