Communities 'hollowed out' by social housing sales

Communities are being hollowed out as affordable and social housing in rural and coastal villages and towns are sold off, it is claimed.

A councillor has claimed social housing is being sold off in parts of the South Hams, Devon, and replaced with new-build homes on the edge of the city of Plymouth.

A mother-to-be said she and her partner were forced to rent privately in order to stay in the rural village where she grew up because all the affordable homes for rent had been sold off.

The housing association Bromford Flagship LiveWest (BFL) said only a small number of properties were sold each year with surplus money invested in new affordable homes.

Josie Grey was brought up in the village of Kingston near Modbury in the South Hams where her mother and grandmother still live.

She and her partner, who is serving in the military, are expecting their first child in October and had hoped to buy an ex-social housing home in Kingston but lost out to a higher bidder.

Josie said: "We're now having to rent privately which unfortunately is eating into our savings to buy a house."

She said it was "very important" to be close to her family, particularly with a baby on the way.

Josie said several friends had left the village due to the lack of affordable homes for young people.

She said: "It's just getting more and more difficult for people of my age to stay here.

"It's really sad - a lot of the people I've grown up with I haven't seen for a long time."

Denise O'Callaghan, the Liberal Democrat councillor in charge of housing at South Hams District Council, said social housing had been sold off in places like Salcombe, Dartmouth, Kingsbridge and Kingswear, "where housing is expensive".

She and her opposite number at West Devon Borough Council, Mark Renders, Independent, wrote to local MPs to express their concern.

In the letter they say "we have lost 40 homes since 2023" in the South Hams.

It said: "A further 112 homes were acquired in the new town of Sherford with additional funding from Homes England, but crucially these were not located where they were sorely needed, within the affected rural communities."

The councillors said the situation was "even bleaker" in West Devon "with 72 properties lost and the reprovision of 51, mostly in the largest town, Tavistock".

The councillors said there were no remaining BFL properties in the village of South Tawton and it was "unlikely" new social housing would be built there "despite evidence of housing need".

O'Callaghan said: "Once it's lost it's lost and we need that housing in our areas - we need key workers, we need hospitality workers, retail workers, families for the schools.

"If housing is expensive and there are very few social housing options then that community effectively becomes hollowed out."

In Kingswear, on the bank of the River Dart, the primary school closed in 2024 due to a lack of pupils.

The village has a population of more than 1,000 people but a report for Devon County Council regarding the school's closure said there were "very few children living in the Kingswear village itself".

Sue Pudduck, whose house overlooks the empty school, said she was aware of former social housing properties being sold off.

She said: "A lot of people come in from outside and buy them as second homes and we lose them to the village - it's really sad.

"It starts to become very much a population of old people and it's very obvious if you go somewhere else - you walk up Exeter High Street and there will be lots of children of all different ages.

"There are a few here but very few and they've all had to go to school outside the area."

The issue has been raised in parliament by Caroline Voaden, the Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon.

In a debate on the Social Housing Bill on 10 September she said: "We must build small amounts of social housing around villages so that young people who have grown up in the village can afford to stay there and older people can downsize, yet social housing providers are fixated on large developments on the side of towns.

"The future of rural communities depends on homes that local people can afford.

"Without real powers for councils to protect social housing and hold developers to their affordable housing commitments, we will keep watching schools shrink, shops close and villages empty out, one sale and one broken promise at a time."

The government has not responded to a request for comment.

Nobody from BFL, which operates across south west, central and eastern England, was available for interview.

In a statement, the housing association said: "We recognise the strength of feeling that can arise when an affordable home is sold, which is why every property is reviewed on a case-by-case basis and we work closely with local authorities throughout the process."

BFL said it was "the country's largest provider of new affordable homes" and "delivered more than 2,700 affordable homes last year" and was "committed to investing at scale to help tackle the housing crisis and meet growing demand across the South West and beyond".

The statement said: "Only a small number of properties are sold each year, typically where they are no longer occupied and would require significant investment to meet modern environmental and energy-efficiency standards.

"Where a sale is proposed, we consult and notify the relevant local authority and remain open and transparent throughout the process. In many cases, homes considered for disposal are ultimately retained following review.

"As a not-for-profit housing provider, any surplus generated from property sales is reinvested into the delivery of new affordable homes and improvements to existing homes.

"These decisions help us maximise the impact of our investment, enabling us to provide more energy-efficient, sustainable homes while supporting the government's ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing and address the housing shortage facing communities across the South West."

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