The 252,000 households with a new social housing letting in 2022/23 equated to approximately 467,000 people – roughly 1 in 116 people in England[footnote 1]. This is a decrease of 20,000 (4%) from the previous year (2021/22). This year’s decrease should be considered within the wider context of a steady decline since the most recent peak in lettings in 2013/14. Since this peak the number of tenants getting new social housing lettings has decreased by  292,000 (38%). After a sizeable decrease in 2020/21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic there was a rebound in 2021/22. However 2022/23 saw the continuation of the long term declining trend seen before Covid-19. The number of people with a new social housing letting is closely tied to the number of new social lettings. For more detail about the trend in new lettings and other aspects of tenancies and properties, please see the separate “Tenancies” report available from the same landing page as this report. The number of people in new social housing lettings decreased by 2% since last year Figure 1: The number of people in new social housing lettings, 2007/08 - 2022/23 Definition: Needs type
Supported Housing (SH)Housing with special design facilities or features targeted at a specific client group requiring support, for example housing designed for older people.
General Needs (GN)The most common type of social stock. Housing that is not designated for specific client groups requiring support, or stock that does not have the special design features that are specific to Supported Housing. Definition: Rent types
Social Rent (SR)The most common type of rent. It is set in accordance with a national formula that takes account of relative local earnings, the property’s relative value and the number of bedrooms it has (For further details, please see Chapter 2 of the Government’s policy statement on rents for social housing[footnote 2])
Affordable Rent (AR)Where the rent to be paid by tenants can be no more than 80% of the market value for the property.
Intermediate Rent (IR)Often part of a specific named scheme. Rent must not exceed 80% of the current market rate, the reduced rent is an opportunity for the tenant to save towards a house purchasing deposit. There may also be a future opportunity to purchase all or a share of the property currently being rented.   The majority (65%) of tenants with new social lettings in 2022/23 moved into General Needs lettings on a Social Rent basis. The remainder are mainly shared between Social Rent Supported Housing (15% in 2022/23) and, since 2011/12 when Affordable Rent was introduced, Affordable Rent General Needs properties (18% in 2022/23). Since the introduction of Affordable Rent in 2011/12 its share of new lettings has gradually increased, but remains less than a fifth of the total. Figure 2: Percentage of new social lettings by rent and needs type, 2007/08 - 2022/23