Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to 53.4 percent of people renting from Newcastle City Council in Elswick South from 2021 ONS census data, what steps his department is taking to support local authorities with social housing stock in Newcastle Upon Tyne Central constituency.

It is for councils to decide how best to balance expenditure on delivering new homes and maintaining their existing housing.

We recognise that local authorities are facing increasing pressures on their social housing stock. To support new social housing supply, councils are able to apply to the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme.