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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of housing association properties that are rented at a level above the Government's definition of affordable.

The Affordable Homes Programme is only available to fund properties that will be available for affordable housing, either for rent or for sale.

The Statistical Data Return for 2016-17 published by the Regulator of Social Housing shows that there were 52,379 non-social rented homes owned by private registered providers of social housing (many of which are housing associations). This category encompasses all rented properties belonging to private registered providers that do not meet the definition of social housing. This figure does not include properties that are owned by housing associations' unregistered subsidiaries. The Statistical Data Return is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistical-data-return-statistical-releases.