Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Regulator of Social Housing's statistics entitled Private registered provider social housing stock and rents in England 2023 to 2024, published on 29 October 2024, for what reason 544 private registered provider properties in Middlesbrough are not available to let; and what steps she is taking to ensure that those properties are let.

Units are likely to be reported as temporarily unavailable when works are being carried out as part of Private Registered Providers’ stock condition remediation and energy efficiency works.

This is set out in the Regulator of Social Housing’s “Private Registered Provider Social Housing Stock In England – Sector Characteristics and Stock Movement” report for 2023-24, available on gov.uk here.

Those reported as permanently unavailable may be scheduled for significant work, restructure, or demolition.

Variation in the number of permanently unavailable units will be driven by multiple factors such as re-development programmes and individual approaches by Private Registered Providers to asset management.

The government encourages social housing providers to develop solutions that make best use of the social housing stock and minimise void periods where possible.