Affordable Housing

(asked on 17th July 2017) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the affordability of affordable homes available at up to 80 per cent of market rent for people on low and middle incomes.


Answered by
Alok Sharma Portrait
Alok Sharma
COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
This question was answered on 20th July 2017

The Affordable Rent model was introduced to maximise the delivery of new affordable housing, making the best possible use of constrained public subsidy. It allows us to deliver more homes for every pound of Government investment, so more people in housing need can have access to a good quality home at a sub-market rent. This has allowed us to build nearly 333,000 new affordable homes since 2010, including 240,000 affordable homes for rent.

Rent must be set at or below 80 per cent of market rents, so tenants will still benefit from sub-market rent. When setting rent, landlords must consider the local market conditions to ensure fit with local circumstances. Actual levels of rents vary. For example, in London, Affordable rent is around 60 per cent of the market rates.

The vast majority of social housing (94 per cent) is still provided at social rent.

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