Labour cannot build 1.5m homes without cash for affordable housing, providers say

Exclusive: Figures show housing associations started just 33,000 social homes last year, a fall of 30%

Labour will miss its target of delivering 1.5m new homes this parliament without an emergency cash injection into the affordable housing sector, providers have warned.

Housing associations and councils have written to deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, saying her promise to deliver the biggest boost to affordable housing in a generation" will be impossible unless there are urgent interventions to fix the financial pressures providers face.