Published by the Affordable Housing Commission, July 2020

This report argues that the timing is right for a sustained counter-cyclical social housing programme, which supports local jobs and growth and helps decarbonise the housing sector. As the report explains, a step change in the supply of social and affordable homes will also help rebalance the housing system, reduce housing benefit costs and ease housing stress, especially for lower income households and key workers – many of whom are struck in the more expensive private rented sector.

The report sets out a 12 point housing-led recovery plan, which includes measures to: return housing grants to the previous levels which helped rescue the housing market after the global financial crisis, a new ‘Housing Conversion Fund’ for social landlords to buy unsold homes and other properties, reforms to the Right to Buy and Permitted Development Rights, caps on rent rises, strengthening the safety net for renters, and extending Help to Buy to existing properties for those on the margins of home ownership.