Member

The Government, as the Minister has rightly reminded us on a number of occasions, are investing £39 billion over 10 years. That is, on good estimates, potentially going to deliver 5,000 more affordable homes per year and it is Home England’s intention that 60% of those should be for social rent. Of course, that is alongside the factors we all know: the principal delivery of affordable homes overall has been through Section 106 obligations, and we are in a position where many housing associations are not in a position to take up those contracts. The reason is essentially, as I understand it, because they are no longer necessarily in a position to borrow for this purpose, because many of the larger housing associations now no longer have interest cover—that is, the interest costs on their outstanding debt now exceed their operating income, so they are not in a position to take on more debt and undertake more purchases.