ANDOVER residents are urged to have their say on social housing as a public consultation is coming to a close.

North West Hampshire MP and housing minister Kit Malthouse is responsible for gathering the public’s opinion on the government’s proposed reforms, as set out in the social housing green paper.

Thousands of people currently live in social housing across the constituency, and around a fifth of Andover’s residents live in socially rented accommodation at 21.4 per cent.

Mr Malthouse said: “I’ve been set a task by our Prime Minister to make sure we are building homes for everyone – building more, building better, building faster.

“Everyone deserves a decent, affordable and well-run place to live – and social housing plays a vital role in this. Tens of thousands of people across North West Hampshire live in social housing, and we want to support them to get on in life, making it more likely that they will go on to own their own home.

“We’re making progress when it comes to building more, we’ve put a further £2 billion into the Affordable Homes Programme, increased local authority borrowing by £1 billion, and offered housing associations longer term funding certainty to help them deliver more homes.

“Now I want your views on how we can build on this.”

Under the principles set out in the consultation document, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government aims to build a fairer deal for social housing residents.

This includes improving and speeding up how complaints are resolved, empowering residents so landlords are held to account, tackling stigma around social housing and more.

Responses are due by November 6, and can be submitted online or by post.

For more go to gov.uk/government/consultations/a-new-deal-for-social-housing.