The number of new social housing lettings in Bolton fell by more than a third in the last decade, new figures show.

The latest Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show there were 1,835 new social housing lettings offered to tenants in Bolton in 2021-22 – down from 1,878 the year before.

The recent fall in new lets follows a decline over the last decade – in 2011-12, 3,241 new lets were offered, well below the current figure.

This covers all social housing, which is split into affordable or intermediate rent, and social rent.

The former means a tenant pays 80 per cent of market value, while the latter is set by the Government, is paid to registered providers and local authorities, and is significantly lower than the private market.

The figures also show 1.2 million households were on local authority waiting lists at the end of March 2022.

Andrew Cardwell, owner of Cardwells Estate Agents, said: “These figures are very worrying. There is a genuine need for more social housing in our Bolton community.

“Unfortunately, this is indicative of the medium to long term failure to build sufficient homes to meet the demand, and it reflects the ongoing shrinkage of the number of local authority owned social homes.  

“Unfortunately, this decline coincides with a time when a number of private landlords have made the decision to step away from the private rented sector, due to the financial and legislative pressures on the business model.

“This has resulted in less private rental properties being supplied to the market, which puts pressure on rents to rise.

“1.2 million households across the country being held on waiting lists in March 2022 is indicatory of the seriousness of the situation.  

“The primary solution is for investment in a new generation of sustainable, quality social homes.  

“Therefore, it is worth noting that the Government is planning to invest circa £11.5bn into building tens of thousands more social homes, which are planned to be both available for sale and to let, through its Affordable Home Programme. 

“How long this will take, and how much impact it will have on our Bolton community will only be known in the fullness of time.”

Across England, access to affordable rental properties has steadily declined, with the number of households provided with new social lettings each year falling from 396,000 in 2011-12 to 267,000 last year.

Housing charity Shelter said the only way to solve the housing crisis is to "invest in a new generation of good quality and sustainable social homes".

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Every day our frontline services deal with the consequences of not having enough social housing, from families stuck in unsuitable and often poor-quality temporary accommodation to people being pushed into homelessness because they can no longer keep up with soaring private rents.

"There is only one lasting solution to the housing emergency, and that is to invest in a new generation of good quality and sustainable social homes.”

Nationally, the number of new properties let as solely social rents – the more affordable social housing category, and roughly equal to 50 per cent of market value – has declined significantly over the last decade.

There were just 225,000 in 2021-22, down from 391,000 in 2011-12.

In Bolton, 1,576 (86 per cent) of the new social housing lettings were among the most affordable category – down from 3,165 10 years ago.

Luke Murphy, associate director at think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research said: "The long-term decline in the share of new lettings in council homes also reflects the ongoing shrinkage of the number of local authority-owned social homes.

"All of this points to the failure to build sufficient homes to meet demand, including genuinely affordable homes.

“The Government must rapidly address this by increasing investment in affordable housing and reforming the land market and planning to increase the overall supply."

The DLUHC said it is investing £11.5 billion into building more social homes to deliver tens of thousands of homes available for rent and sale through its Affordable Homes Programme.

A spokesperson added that the Government is "committed to building more social homes".

Step Places and social housing provider Bolton at Home are working with Bolton Council on the Moor Lane development in the town centre which should increase affordable homes for residents.

The project will transform the 4.5-acre former bus station site into 208 new homes, with green spaces and shops.