Rayner pledges to 'turn tide' on housing crisis by the end of parliament

Labour is "staking everything" on using billions of pounds of investment to reverse Britain's decline, Angela Rayner has said, promising people would feel the housing crisis ease by the end of the parliament.

- Jessica Elgot

The housing secretary is now in a race to persuade housing associations to take on social housing projects, with nearly £40bn for affordable and social homes to be spent over 10 years, the culmination of lengthy negotiations with the Treasury.

She admitted housing associations, which are under huge financial pressure, would need convincing. Many are turning down opportunities from developers when they offer section 106 homes as part of their social housing obligations.

Rayner said: "Now we've got to go away and do some of the work with the social landlords. The priority of this government is to significantly increase the amount of social rents that are available because that is a real pressure point. I've got 164,000 children in temporary accommodation. You can do the maths on that.

That is a hell of a lot so I need a hell of a lot of social homes."

The housing secretary admitted she had had significant doubts about the government's ability to hit its target of 1.5m homes by the end of the parliament. It is a pledge industry experts suggest cannot be met.