These are exciting times in social housing. Nothing happens for ages then a whole series of reviews, consultations and ministerial changes come along at once. We face the prospect of a new independent regulator that promises to put tenants first and a new regeneration and housing agency, Communities England. The new Prime Minister has already pledged to make housing a priority and his Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, will sit in Cabinet for the first time in a generation. Let’s hope that this commitment is reflected in the next comprehensive spending review scheduled for this autumn by making housing one of the Government’s three main priorities alongside education and health.

Gordon Brown has recognised that the housing market in the UK is not working. An increasing number of young people, families and working people are unable to afford their own home, and at the same time affordable rented housing is in short supply. New houses are being built at a rate of around 180,000 a year but the projected rate of household growth is at around 210,000 a year.