At least 60 per cent of the government’s £39bn affordable housing programme for the next decade will be allocated to homes for social rent, the government pledged today.
The announcement forms part of a long-term strategy to deliver 300,000 social and affordable homes over ten years, with ministers targeting 180,000 homes let at social rent levels linked to local incomes.
The plan, announced by deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner, marks a sixfold increase in centrally funded social rent homes compared with the decade to 2024, it claimed.
Funding will come from the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme unveiled at last year’s Spending Review. This replaces the existing £12.3bn Affordable Homes Programme (2021–26) and nearly doubles the annual average investment by the end of this Parliament to £4bn.
Homes England will oversee the majority of the programme, while up to 30 per cent—around £11.7bn—will be delivered through the Greater London Authority.
Rayner said the government was “unleashing a social rent revolution” as part of a new national mission to renew council and housing association stock, and raise safety and quality standards.
Marie-Claude Hemming, director of policy at the Association of Consultancy and Engineering, added: “Every pound of investment must do more: cutting emissions and energy bills today while reducing maintenance and the risk of retrofit costs tomorrow.
“The value of design at the outset can pay over decades. Low-quality, short-sighted builds simply push today’s savings into tomorrow’s risk, particularly for exceptionally expensive retrofitting.”
The government today also confirmed that a long-term social rent settlement will be introduced from April 2026, and is consulting on convergence measures that would cap weekly rent increases at £1 or £2.
Other measures include extending the Decent Homes Standard to private rentals for the first time, establishing a minimum energy efficiency requirement for social homes, and implementing Awaab’s Law to strengthen enforcement on damp and mould hazards.
The Right to Buy scheme will also be reformed to protect existing council housing stock, following the introduction of new limits on discounts in November 2024, the government said.
The programme forms part of wider plans for 1.5 million new homes, reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and the launch of a National Housing Bank.
A consultation on modernised housing standards and energy efficiency requirements will be held later this year, with a final decision on rent convergence to be taken at the Autumn Budget.
Source: Government press release
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Colin Marrs