Housing Minister Mark Prisk today laid down the gauntlet to social landlords across the country, to branch out and help meet the growing demand for rented homes.

In his first speech as Housing Minister, Mr Prisk urged housing associations to turn their expertise in providing social homes to also building new homes for private rent.

He called on landlords to bid for a share of a £10billion Government Guarantee and "provide the spark to get Britain building", delivering homes built for new tenants - whether in social homes or for private rent.

A review of the private rented sector by Sir Adrian Montague highlighted real potential for the development of homes built specifically for private rent, with funding for these new properties coming from institutional investors.

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But speaking to the National Housing Federation in Birmingham, Mr Prisk argued that social landlords could also make the most of the potential that Sir Adrian's report identified.

The Minister pointed to Thames Valley Housing Association's "Fizzy Living" scheme, which offers newly-built flats for rent on the open market in London's East End, and urged more landlords to "take that leap of faith".

He argued that with years of experience and expertise in providing affordable homes to rent and buy, housing associations could both continue delivering services for social tenants and offer homes for private tenants.

Last week the Government brought forward a range of positive measures to get Britain building. Mr Prisk will point out that landlords could be using these to make the most of this potential market.

The measures include:

•New legislation for Government guarantees of up to £10billion for new rented homes; •£300million capital funding towards delivering up to 15,000 new affordable homes and bringing 5,000 empty homes back into use

Mr Prisk said: "There's a tremendous opportunity here. We know there is already a massive demand for housing in the private rented sector. Housing associations already provide excellent services to their tenants, but have the potential to offer homes to a much wider group of people.

"By making the most of the new and positive measures we're taking, social landlords can branch out and provide the spark to get Britain building."

(CD)