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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2022 to Question 6749 on Affordable Housing and Social Rented Housing, for what reason his Department has not set a target for the numbers of affordable homes; and what the key performance indicators for the Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 are.

As the Levelling Up White paper set out, getting people onto the housing ladder means making housing more affordable now and in the future. The Government has committed to deliver 1 million new homes by the end of this Parliament and continue working towards its ambition of delivering 300,000 new homes per year to create a more sustainable and affordable housing market.

The Government does not set a national target for affordable housing delivery. Whilst the Government’s standard method is used to identify the total number of homes needed in a local area, the National Planning Policy Framework is clear that it is for local authorities to identify the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require affordable housing, and reflect this in planning policies.

Our £11.5 billion 2021 – 26 Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country.

Around half the homes will be for affordable and social rent and we will deliver more than double the amount of social rent compared to the current programme, with around 32,000 social rent homes due to be delivered.

Approximately half of the homes delivered will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder.