最近的一项民意调查显示，38%的英国年轻人预计他们的生活会比父母更糟，只有36%的人预期会有所改善，这在很大程度上是由于负担不起的住房所致。在伦敦，平均租金消耗了大约一半的平均收入。为了解决这个问题，政治候选人安迪·伯纳姆提出了自战后时期以来最大的公营住宅建设规划。虽然社会福利住房拥有72%的强力民意支持，且有超过130万户家庭在等待名单上，但英格兰已经拥有极高比例的社会福利住房，占其住房总量的16%——在G7国家中比例最高——其中一些伦敦行政区的比例甚至达到了近40%。

当前的公营住宅系统既浪费又不公平。该系统通过折扣租金每年提供估计为20亿英镑（25亿美元）的隐性补贴。虽然三分之二的社会福利住房租户依靠福利生活，但其余三分之一的租户却享受了实质性的意外之财，例如在肯辛顿和切尔西，2024-2025年的新社会福利住房租金比市场价格低了近80%，每年可节省高达32000英镑。由于这些终身且可继承的租约不受持续的资产审查限制，英格兰400万社会福利住房家庭中，有超过10%的家庭收入现在处于全国前40%的水平，而超过100万依赖福利的家庭却必须租用私人房屋并面临无家可归的风险。

这种流动性的缺乏损害了经济增长，因为租户不愿为了工作而搬迁，且社会福利住房中60%的成年人没有工作。为了改革该系统，应将社会福利住房租金提高到市场水平，并通过经过资产审查的福利直接向有需要的家庭提供目标补贴。此外，英格兰必须通过制定规划改革来解决其更广泛的住房短缺问题，建立全国性的分区系统以防止地方否决开发项目、放宽使私人项目无利可图的经济适用房配额，并审查限制住房建设的约束性“绿带”边界。

A recent poll indicates that 38% of young Britons expect to lead worse lives than their parents, with only 36% anticipating improvement, largely due to unaffordable housing. In London, average rents consume approximately half of mean earnings. To address this, political candidate Andy Burnham has proposed the largest council-housebuilding program since the post-war period. While social housing has strong public support at 72% and a waiting list of over 1.3 million households, England already possesses a high proportion of social housing at 16% of its total stock—the highest in the G7—with some London boroughs reaching nearly 40%.

The current council-housing system is both wasteful and unfair. The system provides an estimated implicit subsidy of 20 billion pounds (25 billion dollars) annually through discounted rents. While two-thirds of social housing tenants are on welfare, the remaining one-third enjoy a substantial windfall, such as savings of up to 32,000 pounds per year in Kensington and Chelsea, where new social rents were nearly 80% below market rates in 2024-2025. Because these lifelong, inheritable tenancies are not subject to ongoing means-testing, more than 10% of England's 4 million social housing households now have incomes in the top 40% of the country, while over 1 million benefit-dependent households must rent privately and face homelessness.

This lack of mobility harms economic growth, as tenants are reluctant to relocate for work, and 60% of adults in social housing are unemployed. To reform the system, social rents should be raised to market rates, with target subsidies provided directly to needy households through means-tested benefits. Additionally, England must address its broader housing shortage by enacting planning reforms, establishing a nationwide zoning system to prevent local vetoes of developments, loosening affordable housing quotas that make private projects unprofitable, and reviewing restrictive green belt boundaries that stifle construction.

Source: England needs fewer council homes, not more

Subtitle: Andy Burnham’s plan is no way to ease the housing crisis

Dateline: Jul 09, 2026 07:33 AM