Major inquiry launched into delivery of social and affordable rented homes

A House of Commons Committee has launched a long reaching inquiry into the long term delivery of new social and affordable rented housing. The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee is looking at the housing targets set by the Government as the figure of 300,000 new home by the mid 2020s includes just 3% of social homes to be built by local authorities. Housing charity Shelter has said that over three million new social home would need to be built over a 20 year period to address social housing need. Amounting to 150,000 new social homes per year this is significantly higher than the Government’s current plans. The new inquiry will investigate the effectiveness of the Government’s current strategies to boost social and affordable rented housing provision. This will include the adequacy of funding levels, as well as programmers and incentives for key stakeholders, such as local authorities and housing associations, to stimulate delivery.