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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their proposed First Homes policy on the provision of social and affordable rented homes.

The Government recognises the important role of affordable housing and supplying new homes of all affordable tenures. Affordable homes will help support people into home ownership; reduce the impact of high rents in the private rented sector where people struggle to afford it; and mitigate the risk of homelessness.

The Government is mindful of the trade-off between the level of ambition for First Homes, funded through developer contributions, and the supply of other affordable housing tenures. There are many factors that will affect this trade off beyond the level of First Homes delivery through section 106, especially any price/income caps or additional discounts in high value areas to increase affordability. We therefore do not consider it appropriate to make predictions until these factors are better understood through our response to the consultation, which we hope to publish soon.

The proportions of section 106 described in the consultation are illustrative examples and should not be taken as Government intentions at this stage. The lowest proportion at 40% was chosen as it is roughly equal to the current proportion of section 106 which delivers home ownership products (37% in 2018-2019).