Social housing tenants in England face a 7% rise in rents next year.
The plans are set to be announced by chancellor Jeremy Hunt in today’s Autumn Statement, adding further pressure to their straitened finances.
Rents for the 4m people in the social housing sector, which are regulated by the government, were set to rise at the consumer price index rate plus 1% for the coming financial year. Since inflation reached 10.1% in September, that would have amounted to an 11.1% increase.
Greg Clark, who briefly served as levelling up secretary this summer, proposed capping rent rises at 3%, 5% or 7%. Hunt is understood to have chosen the latter, according to people familiar with Autumn Statement planning.
