Social Housing

Lord Marlesford Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

Meeting the needs of the rural community is also very much a priority, and more than 85,000 affordable homes have been provided in rural local authority areas in England between April 2010 and March 2015. We are working with the Homes and Communities Agency, which supports a network of rural champions, to ensure that the profile of affordable rural housing remains high. The noble Lord makes a good point.

[Lord Marlesford (Con)]

My Lords, which is in general more expensive—to provide social housing let at discounted rents or to pay housing benefit?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

There is a balance to be struck here, and one of the things the Government are doing is to reduce social rents by 1% per year for the next four years, until 2020. This means that the housing benefit bill will fall accordingly. It has grown by 25% in the last decade, reaching £13 billion in 2014-15.