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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support to local authorities with the development of new social housing.

The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and has given local authorities a comprehensive range of tools to deliver a new generation of council housing.

To support the development of new affordable homes we are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme. We are keen to see local authorities playing a key role in the delivery of this programme alongside housing associations.

To further support local authority development, in March 2021 we announced a package of reforms that will give local authorities increased flexibility over how they spend their Right to Buy receipts on replacement homes. This package will make it easier for authorities to fund new homes using Right to Buy receipts including homes for social rent.

In addition, since the abolition of the Housing Revenue Account in 2018 that enables local authorities to borrow for building, we have given social landlords a longer term rent deal for 5 years from April 2020 allowing them to charge rents of up to CPI +1% per annum, and reduced the Public Works Loan Board interest rates for borrowing for housing, providing a stable investment environment to deliver new homes.

We want to see local authorities using these tools to build more affordable homes.