3
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Ho…
Rejected
We are concerned that the number of homes being built for social rent is not enough to meet demand. There is huge demand for social rent homes which is the only real, affordable option for many people. Despite this, the Department has a target for just 33,550 homes for social …
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We are concerned that the number of homes being built for social rent is not enough to meet demand. There is huge demand for social rent homes which is the only real, affordable option for many people. Despite this, the Department has a target for just 33,550 homes for social rent under the 2021 programme. The Department has shown that homes built for social rent provide higher value for money than those built for ownership, but decisions around tenure are policy decisions made by ministers. The Department notes that building more homes for social rent within the existing funding envelope would lead to fewer homes overall. The Department is consulting on capping the increase in rent that housing providers can charge, which risks reducing the number of new homes built for rent in future. Recommendation: The Department should assess how much demand there is for social rent and set out how it will use the Programme to better meet this.
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation to make an assessment of demand but will continue to maximise delivery of social rent through a mixed tenure programme and will work with the delivery agencies to confirm the 2021 programme’s capacity to deliver homes for Social …
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HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Ho…
Rejected
Homes England told us that, under current plans, it forecasts achieving 14,300 homes for social rent under the 2016 programme, exceeding its target of 12,500 homes. For the 2021 programme, the Department told us it set a sub-target of 33,500 homes for social rent, which it forecasts meeting.32 Shelter argued …
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Homes England told us that, under current plans, it forecasts achieving 14,300 homes for social rent under the 2016 programme, exceeding its target of 12,500 homes. For the 2021 programme, the Department told us it set a sub-target of 33,500 homes for social rent, which it forecasts meeting.32 Shelter argued that the Department should refocus the Programme to deliver more homes for social rent.33 The Department said that ultimately decisions around tenure are for Ministers to make, and it is the role of officials to ensure ministers understand the trade-offs when setting targets. The Department told us that if it did focus the Programme entirely on social rent within a fixed budget, there would be fewer homes built.34
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with making an assessment of demand, but will continue to maximise delivery of social rent through a mixed tenure programme, and will confirm the 2021 programme’s capacity to deliver homes for Social Rent as part of a review.
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HM Treasury