Rayner confirms mandatory housing targets and promises ‘rent stability’ for social landlords

The new system will “require local authorities to plan for homes proportionate to the size of existing communities” and “require an uplift” where “house prices are most out of step with local incomes”, she said.

According to reports, all areas will be ordered to lift housing supply by 0.8 per cent annually. The targets will then be altered based on affordability criteria to push through more development in expensive areas. 

However, in London the target will fall to 80,000 homes from 100,000. 

Ms Rayner said: “The collective total of these local targets will therefore rise from some 300,000 a year to just over 370,000 a year.”

She admitted that “some will find this uncomfortable” but said the problem was “urgent” as the country faces the “most acute housing crisis in living memory”.

According to Ms Rayner, who is also deputy prime minister, the number of new homes built this year is likely drop below the 200,000 mark. This is wide of the previous administration’s target of 300,000 homes a year by the middle of this decade. 

On the affordable housing sector, Ms Rayner said that “more flexibilities” will be introduced in the current Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), working with Homes England. However, more details will not be revealed until the next Spending Review. 

Under the current AHP, only around 110,000 and 130,000 homes will be built, compared to a target set by the previous government of 180,000, according to Ms Rayner.

“In our worst-case scenario, some 70,000 fewer families in need of a secure home will lose out,” she said. 

Ms Reeves said she also recognised that councils and housing associations “need support”. 

As such, she said that chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out plans for “rent stability” that social landlords need to “borrow and invest”.

This will be at the “next fiscal event”, which is expected to be Ms Reeves’ first Budget on 30 October. 

Earlier this year, the previous government announced that it was extending the current rent settlement for another year.

In a press release alongside the statement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also said that details of “future government investment in social and affordable housing” will be announced at the next Spending Review. 

This will be so “social housing providers can plan for the future and help deliver the biggest increase in affordable housebuilding in a generation”, the department said.

Ms Rayner also announced plans to launch a consultation in the autumn on reforms to Right to Buy. In the meantime, she said councils will immediately be given extra flexibility on how they use money from Right to Buy sales. 

The government said it has started its review of the increased discounts introduced in 2012, with changes to be implemented in the autumn.

Under the measures announced today, councils will also have to review their green belt land if needed to meet their own target. Local authorities will have to identify and prioritise so-called ‘grey belt’ land, which will include land on the edge of existing settlements or roads, as well as old petrol stations and car parks.  

The government is proposing an official definition of grey belt as “green belt land which makes a limited contribution to the green belt’s purposes”. 

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “We strongly welcome the government’s commitment to reintroducing more ambitious mandatory housing targets, recognising the importance of social rented homes, and to overhauling the planning system, which we have long been calling for.”

Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “Placing social housing as central to its long-term plan for housing, introducing clear housing targets and wider planning reform are much-needed solid steps towards addressing the housing crisis.”

He said that reviewing the operation and the impact of Right to Buy is also “long overdue” and a “welcome development”.