The viability appraisal model for schemes could be ‘flipped’ to calculate upfront the percentage of private homes needed on a site to produce the type of social housing a council needs, a report has suggested.

Thinktank Localis and the Housing & Finance Institute has this week published a report outlining a model which it calls Public Rental Homes (PRH) which it believes could help councils better ensure the delivery of homes which are affordable to people on their waiting lists.

The report uses PRH as a new term for submarket council rental homes which is “not tarred with the ‘council house’ or ‘social rent’ brush.”