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As has been pointed out here before (by me and others), one of the first fixes needed to expand social housing is to halt (or severely restrict) the right-to-buy (in England) & its draining off of housing stock at a loss to councils..... and it looks like Labour is making its move, although of course a consultation is not yet a change in policy!
@ChrisMayLA6
Naive question:
Could this be achieved by setting up private companies/trusts with watertight covenants, then having the government pass public housing to those trusts, in order to prevent future Tory regimes from simply changing the rules again?
Well, interestingly that exactly how our community broadband provider is set up here - with what is called a 'asset lock' - so in theory, not nothing to stop that.... politically is a different issue
@ChrisMayLA6 Some such similar strategy does seem like the sensible way to go, otherwise it'll just be repeated iterations of taxpayers' housing construction spending transformed into a "housing benefit > mortgaged private landlords > interest for billionaire bankers" funnel.
Also, go that good community ISP! 
@ChrisMayLA6 I'll have a read - I'm interested in community ISPs and mesh network possibilities
@ChrisMayLA6 we have already ended the right to buy in Scotland but I think it’s questionable whether it had any impact on housing supply. Only building new houses actually improves housing supply. But selling council housing stock creates other problems like downstream unregulated letting when the original buyers move out and instead of selling they let the property out.
As inexperienced landlords, they often rent to antisocial tenants. 1/2
@ChrisMayLA6 2/2 the other issue with selling Council properties is that people look at the cost of a mortgage and realise it is less than they’re paying in rent so immediately believe they can afford to buy the property. However, they don’t take into account repairs and maintenance which as any householder knows can be substantial. Consequently, bought properties are often not properly repaired & maintained.
all good points - my guess on the end of RtB & the increase in supply is its too early to tell in Scotland - I read somewhere (I now cannot recall where) that the expected expansion directly attributable to ending RtB would take up to ten years to really pull through....
@ChrisMayLA6 when I lived in Tower Hamlets, my colleagues, from the local area, saw RTB as a cheap route to a rental property investment.