Prisk urges social landlords to build homes for private rent

In his first speech as Housing Minister Prisk told a National Housing Federation conference that landlords should make a bid for a share in the £10 billion debt guarantee scheme announced by Government earlier this month.

Prisk said that with their years of experience and expertise in providing affordable homes to rent and buy, housing associations would both be able to provide services for social tenants and offer homes to private tenants.

He used as an example the "Fizzy Living" scheme by Thames Valley Housing Association. The scheme offers new-build flats for rent on the open market in London's East End. Prisk urged more landlords to "take that leap of faith".

"There's a tremendous opportunity here. We know there is already a massive demand for housing in the private rented sector," said Prisk. "Housing associations already provide excellent services to their tenants, but have the potential to offer homes to a much wider group of people."

"By making the most of the new and positive measures we're taking, social landlords can branch out and provide the spark to get Britain building," he said.

Prisk further said that his focus as Housing Minister would be to address the supply of new affordable homes, while championing the social benefit that housing can bring.

The speech follows Government's announcements earlier this month of a £10bn debt guarantee scheme for new rented homes, as well as £300 million capital funding towards delivering up to 15,000 new affordable homes and bringing 5,000 empty homes back into use.

Last month, an independent review by Sir Adrian Montague into the barriers to institutional investment in private rented homes was published by Government. The report (28-page / 278KB PDF) suggested that affordable housing requirements should be waived for developments of private rented homes funded by institutional investors.