Housing

This tension is reflected in the IMD 2025 release, which measures deprivation across the country. One factor, ‘Barriers to housing and services’, assesses the physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services.

For this measure, Milton Keynes is more deprived than 93% of local authority districts in the IMD 2025 release. [1]

• 45% of residents see housing as a top priority for
  improvements in the city. [2]
  
  
• 64% of people living in the most deprived areas select it
  as a priority. [3]

The OU’s Hidden Toil report highlights that: “Concerns about the increased difficulty to make ends meet for residents in Milton Keynes are frequently tied to the city’s high cost of housing”. [4]

In our survey, 77% of respondents identified the housing
expense as a key contributor to poverty. [5]

“Various respondents shared their disappointment and frustration about how rising costs are pushing residents out of Milton Keynes, especially when linking this to the opportunities that are available across the city. As one survey respondent poignantly put it: “MK is a new start for families - do not let private sector housing prices snatch that away!” [6] OU Hidden Toil Report

The overlap of the cost-of-living crisis, insecure tenure, and a lack of social housing has created what a survey respondent described as a ‘perfect storm’: “Wages and benefits have not kept pace. Insecure tenure exacerbates the problem. There is not enough social housing at below market rents. Add in increased gas, electricity and food costs, and it’s a perfect storm”. [7]

This instability is reflected in the rise in homelessness across the UK. New research from Crisis found that in 2024 nearly 300,000 people experienced ‘the worst forms of homelessness’, including street homelessness, unsuitable paid temporary accommodation such as B&Bs and hostels, and unconventional places such as tents and squats—a 21% increase since 2022. [8]

A 2025 Council Scrutiny report highlighted that while homelessness is increasing across the country, levels in Milton Keynes are disproportionately high for a city of this size; exceeded mainly by larger cities such as London, Manchester, and Birmingham. [9]

Between January and March 2025, 494 households in Milton Keynes were threatened with or were confirmed homeless.

Efforts are underway to address this. Approximately £5.5m has been allocated to Milton Keynes by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in the 2025-26 Homelessness Prevention Grant, including a specific uplift for supporting children experiencing homelessness. [10]

This funding is being used to progress a number of MK Council workstreams including: working with landlords to prevent eviction and surprise notice without negotiation; progressing community drop-in advice sessions with MK College, and assisting households with rent arrears risks and debt management. [11]

The city council is still the biggest landlord in Milton Keynes, with more than 11,000 council homes. [12] In September 2025, MK Council ran ‘The Big Conversation’, gathering tenant feedback through direct door-knocking.

The Council is also building new council homes, including 200 on the Lakes Estate and 66 on Cripps Lodge, a former care facility in Netherfield that is being redesigned as a sustainability-focused residential neighbourhood. It will be important to prioritise the accessibility of any new homes for people who need extra support or adaptations.

House building is a source of energy and progress in Milton Keynes more generally. Milton Keynes has a higher house building rate than the rest of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, and the UK overall, exceeding government targets.

• 2,110 new homes built per year (compared to government target of 1,720) [13]
  
  
• In 2023-24, first-time buyer rate: 14.0 per 1,000 people, higher than the UK average. [14]

The affordable housing picture seems positive. Milton Keynes ranks 8/296 English local authorities, achieving 32% affordable housing across all private developments. [15]

However, the reality is more complex. The distribution of affordable housing is often shaped by developers’ viability arguments, which can result in affordable units being pushed to sites outside the city centre.

In central Milton Keynes, for instance, developments provided an average of just 7% affordable housing last year. This limited provision risks further exacerbating the access and transport isolation experienced by lower income residents priced out of the centre, as highlighted in Hidden Toil.

To put this in context: at the end of 2024, a build-to-rent developer received approval to redevelop a former office site in central Milton Keynes, in line with the policies in place at the time. The development value of the scheme stands in stark contrast to its limited commitment to affordable housing—made more concerning by the lack of clarity about when or where these affordable homes will actually be delivered.

• £135m - gross development value
  
  
• 376 - number of build-to-rent flats
• 11 - number of affordable homes required to meet the council’s housing policy
  
  
• 0 - affordable homes currently proposed on site
  
  
• £3.5m - contribution allocated towards providing affordable housing in another part of the city instead of on-site [16]

Since then, policy direction has begun shifting toward stronger requirements for affordable housing across all sites, and it is crucial that the city continues to engage proactively in the planning process to ensure these commitments are upheld especially in the city centre.

Vital Thinking

Milton Keynes is a vibrant, growing city, and a leading example of house-building targets in the UK, but according to our survey, 55% of people are concerned about housing developments.

How can Milton Keynes balance the speed and energy of development, whilst also prioritising affordable homes in accessible locations, which do not hide the unequal experiences of lower-income residents?

MK Act

MK Act is a crisis intervention service and refuge for people experiencing domestic abuse. It operates 28 family refuge spaces, which are almost always full. Housing is central to its work. In Milton Keynes, domestic abuse is the second most common reason households are threatened with or found homeless. [1]

Within the refuge, service users can access support and skills training within a safe, secure environment. This includes in-refuge training to help survivors rebuild confidence and move towards work, delivered in partnership with organisations such as Works For Us.

MK Act also has multiple trained IDVAs (Independent Domestic Violence Advisors), and runs a range of specialist services. These often rotate each year depending on funding cycles, and include IDVAs based in healthcare settings, support for older people, and an EDI-focused role designed to reach MK’s diverse communities and navigate different cultural contexts.