More than 200,000 new affordable homes have been provided in England since April 2010, according to new figures.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis welcomed the figures as a “clear sign” of how the government’s long-term economic plan was working, with new affordable homes being provided “in every corner of the country”.
This includes the government’s Affordable Homes Programme: already, 132,000 of the 170,000 homes planned through the programme have been provided, thanks to £19.5 billion public and private funding being invested.
It means that since April 2010, 204,000 new affordable homes have been provided.
In contrast, between 1997 and 2010 the number of social rented housing homes dropped by 420,000.
New figures published also show how thousands of social housing tenants who previously were locked out of home ownership are now exercising their Right to Buy thanks to the reinvigorated scheme.
Since April 2010, 31,500 households have taken up their Right to Buy – including 22,600 council tenants and 8,900 housing associations with the preserved Right to Buy.
But of these, over three quarters – 24,100 - were able to do so since April 2012 when the increased discounts were introduced in the reinvigorated scheme.
In contrast, only 7,000 households were able to take up their Right to Buy between 2008 and 2010.
Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: "(These) figures are a clear sign of the government’s long-term economic plan in action, with affordable homes being delivered across England. Since 2010 we’ve delivered 204,000 new affordable homes.
"And, thanks to our reinvigorated Right to Buy, social housing tenants who once saw home ownership as being out of reach are now getting their chance to take their first steps onto the property ladder."
The Affordable Homes Programme includes social rented homes, affordable rented homes and affordable home ownership schemes, and is a key part of the government’s long-term economic plan. And with every new home supporting a job this multi-billion pound programme is helping get people back into work.
A fifth of the affordable homes provided last year, and nearly a quarter of the total since 2010, were provided in London.
The success of the Affordable Homes Programme is one of a number of indicators that England is building following the housing crash in 2008.
Others include:
- planning permission was granted for 230,000 new homes in England in the last 12 months – equating to planning permissions for 630 homes a day
- the Help to Buy schemes have helped over 53,000 people in England get on the property ladder with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require – leading developers are building more as a direct result of the scheme, with private housebuilding up a third compared to last year
- annual council housebuilding starts in England are at a 23-year high
- housing starts in England are at their highest since 2007
- the numbers of empty homes in England are now at a 10-year low.