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Fix private rent target and add social rent calibration target#318

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vahid-ahmadi merged 2 commits intomainfrom
fix/housing-targets-317
Mar 31, 2026
Merged

Fix private rent target and add social rent calibration target#318
vahid-ahmadi merged 2 commits intomainfrom
fix/housing-targets-317

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Summary

  • Correct private rent target to use UK-wide figures
  • Add new social rent calibration target

Fixes #317

Problem

The model produces inflated renter populations and social rent levels (see #317):

  • Avg social rent: £8,141/yr in model vs £6,136/yr official (EHS 2023-24)
  • No social rent calibration target existed to constrain this

The private rent target also used England-only renter counts (4.7m) instead of UK-wide (5.4m).

Changes

Private rent target — corrected

  • Renter count: 4.7m (England-only) → 5.4m (UK-wide: EHS + devolved stats)
  • Avg rent: £1,400/mo → £1,374/mo (ONS PRHI UK average, Feb 2026)
  • Total: £79bn → ~£89bn

Social rent target — new

  • £118/week mean social rent (EHS 2023-24) × 52 weeks × 5.0m UK social renters
  • Total: ~£30.7bn
  • Filters to RENT_FROM_COUNCIL or RENT_FROM_HA tenure types

Files changed

  • targets/sources/housing.py: corrected private rent, added social rent target
  • targets/compute/other.py: handle housing/rent_social by filtering to social tenure
  • targets/build_loss_matrix.py: add housing/rent_social to dispatch
  • tests/test_housing_targets.py: unit tests for all housing targets
  • changelog.d/fixed/317.md

Data sources

Test plan

  • All housing targets load correctly (3 targets)
  • Target values in plausible ranges
  • Social rent < private rent
  • All targets have 2025 values
  • Targets appear in global registry
  • ruff format passes

- Private rent: update from 4.7m England-only renters to 5.4m UK-wide,
  and from £1,400/mo to ONS PRHI £1,374/mo (~£89bn total)
- Social rent: new target from EHS 2023-24 mean £118/wk × 5.0m UK
  social renters (~£30.7bn total)
- Wire up housing/rent_social in compute and loss matrix dispatch
- Add unit tests for all housing targets

Fixes #317

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@vahid-ahmadi vahid-ahmadi merged commit d03a6a6 into main Mar 31, 2026
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FRS reweighting produces inflated renter counts, social rent levels, and council tax revenue

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