Govt sets targets for social housing
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said that 60% of 300,000 affordable homes to be delivered in the £39bn housing programme pledged in last month’s Spending Review will be available through social rent.
The government also said that standards will be driven up as Labour looks to “usher in a decade of housing renewal across the country” with the Delivering a Decade of Renewal for Social and Affordable Housing plan being published today.
Included in this will be detail on changes to the Decent Homes Standard, which will be extended to privately rented homes for the first time, while minimum energy efficiency standards will be introduced for the first time in the social housing sector.
The government said that further measures include changes to Right to Buy and other measures to protect council housing stock.
Should 300,000 affordable homes be built in the term, and the 180,000 soc ial rent homes delivered as part of that, it would represent a sixfold increase on the volume of social rent homes delivered in the decade up to 2024.
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All this fits within Labour’s Plan for Change, the goal of which is to build 1.5m homes and drive up living standards, which includes reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, the Planning & Infrastructure Bill introduced in March, and the recent announcement of a new publicly-owned National Housing Bank, an arm of Homes England with a £16bn war chest to back delivery of 500,000 homes.
Deputy PM and housing secretary Angela Rayner said: “We are seizing this golden opportunity with both hands to transform this country by building the social and affordable homes we need, so we create a brighter future where families aren’t trapped in temporary accommodation and young people are no longer locked out of a secure home.
“With investment and reform, this government is delivering the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, unleashing a social rent revolution, and embarking on a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing in this country.
“That’s why I am urging everyone in the social housing sector to step forward with us now to make this vision a reality, to work together to turn the tide on the housing crisis together and deliver the homes and living standards people deserve through our Plan for Change.”
The government said that it is keen to bring stability to the social housing sector, and said its plan “publicly signals to developers, councils, investors and to the public the government’s serious intent and ambition for social and affordable housing,” giving increased confidence to operators to borrow and invest in development.
In the ‘Delivering a decade of renewal…’ report, the government said that up to 30% of the overall funding, amounting to £11.7bn, would be ringfenced for development in Greater London, but that other than this, would be no ringfenced budgets or numerical targets for specific regions.
The report sets out its main proposals as “five steps” to renewal, namely:
- Delivering the biggest boost to grant funding in a generation
- Rebuilding the sector’s capacity to borrow and invest in new and existing homes, including details on permitted increases in social housing rents from April 2026
- Establishing an effective and stable regulatory regime
- Reinvigorating council housebuilding
- Forging a renewed partnership with the sector to build at scale
The government’s “Delivering a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing report” can be viewed here.
- This story was updated at 16:00 on Wednesday 2 July, following publication of the report linked above.
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Whilst hugely beneficial to those lucky to have a council house, overall, right to buy was a disaster. The government needs to remove it.
By Anonymous
Not that hard to write Government… for a second I thought it said Gove!
By Govt
It takes a down-to earth Northerner like Angela Rayner to get things done. We need more Northern Women like Angela in charge to get things built. Unfortunately, an Oxbridge Degree in summat or other, and an Uncle on the board, is usually all that counts.
By Anonymous
Good to see that the programme outside of London will still be overseen by Homes England. Avoids salami slicing and sets a clear challenge for Local Authorities and Combined Authorities to work in partnership with RP’s and HE in setting clear headed and ambitious delivery pipelines. Collaboration will be critical to successful delivery.
By Anonymous
Given the state of council finances it seems wishful thinking to ask council’s to increase their housebuilding. Regarding Right to Buy, it says: “These reforms include: increasing the time a tenant must have been a public sector tenant, from 3 to 10 years, before they are eligible for Right to Buy; reforming discounts so they start at 5% of the property value, rising by 1% for every extra year an individual is a secure tenant up to the maximum of 15% of the property value or the cash discount cap (whichever is lower); and exempting newly built social homes from Right to Buy for 35 years, ensuring councils are not losing homes before they have recovered the costs of building them. We will legislate when Parliamentary time allows to bring into force these reforms.”
By Anonymous