Thousands of new homes in England will be built as part of a £2bn plan to boost social and affordable house building, the government has said.

Up to 18,000 new homes are set to be delivered, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves said would go some way to “fixing the housing crisis”.

Charities said the “vast majority” of new homes should be for social rent amid record highs in homelessness across the country.

The funding is described by the government as a “down payment from the Treasury” ahead of longer-term investment in social and affordable housing expected to be announced later in the year.

The government expects at least half of the 18,000 would be social homes. But charities have called for the “vast majority” to be for social rent as homelessness hits record highs across the country.

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The government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.

Tuesday’s announcement comes a day before the spring statement, in which the chancellor is expected to announce spending cuts for some government departments, having already unveiled cuts to welfare.

The cuts – which have proved unpopular with Labour backbenchers – come amid reports that the digital services tax – a levy on big tech companies – could be slashed in order to stave off American tariffs.

Last year, experts at the New Economics Foundation said 90,000 social homes would need to be built by as early as 2027/28 to meet the government’s target.

By the final year of this parliament, ministers would “need to go beyond this and deliver 110,000 new social homes to ensure 1.5 million homes are built”, the foundation said, amounting to a total of 365,000 social rent homes over the next five years to hit the target.

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What do you need to know about spring statement

The chancellor announced the plans on a visit to an affordable housing site in Stoke-On-Trent with deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

Ms Rayner said: “Everyone deserves to have a safe and secure roof over their heads and a place to call their own, but the reality is that far too many people have been frozen out of homeownership or denied the chance to rent a home they can afford thanks to the housing crisis we’ve inherited.

“This investment will help us to build thousands more affordable homes to buy and rent and get working people and families into secure homes and onto the housing ladder.”

The number of households on local authority waiting lists, or registers, for social housing in England stood at 1,330,611 in 2024 – the highest figure in a decade.

The previous highest figure was 1,370,410 in 2014.

Matt Downie, chief executive of housing and homelessness charity Crisis, said Tuesday’s announcement was “hugely welcome” and hopefully “signals the beginning of a social housebuilding programme that will radically shift this country’s response to homelessness, putting housing at the heart of the solution”.

The vast majority of suspects in domestic abuse cases where the victim has taken their own life are known to the police, according to a new report.

Over the past four years, data shows that 92% of suspects in cases of domestic abuse suicides were known to authorities – as one police chief admits “there is an awful lot” for forces and other agencies to “learn and improve” to prevent future deaths.

“I’m really concerned,” said Louisa Rolfe, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and national police lead for domestic abuse.

She told Sky News the number of deaths in a domestic setting are a “staggering and intractable problem”.

The report for England and Wales also shows the number of people taking their own lives following domestic abuse is higher than the number of victims killed by an ex or current partner – for the second year running.

In the 12 months to March 2024, 98 people were suspected to have taken their own life following domestic abuse, while 80 people were killed by a partner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council report says.

In 79% of the suspected suicide cases, either the victim or perpetrator were known to other agencies, such as mental health services and domestic abuse specialists.

Since 2020, the most common form of death recorded in a domestic setting has become suicide following domestic abuse.

Ms Rolfe said the trend was “incredibly sad”.

“We’ve been working with other agencies and we’re really, really keen that we work together to understand how we can prevent these sad deaths… and what we might do to ensure that every victim receives the best possible response from us”, she added.

Victims ‘not being protected’

Deborah Jones runs a small domestic abuse charity in Barnsley, working with victims from across the country.

She says 90% of the women she supports have had suicidal thoughts, while a “large number” have made attempts on their life because “they just can’t see a way out”.

“Once they’ve reported something that is happening to them, they’re not being protected,” she said. “If they get referred to a service, nobody seems to want to catch them.

“They’re just being referred on to another service… being passed from pillar to post.”

Sky News joined a support session as victims talked about their experiences, where they described the “relentless torment” of their abuse.

Others said they had been “dismissed as mentally ill” and said reporting domestic abuse can be “re-traumatising”.

One woman said she was asked to recount her story “five times” in one day.

Kiena Dawes, Jessica Laverack and Kellie Sutton are three young women who took their own lives following a history of domestic abuse.

Ryan Wellings was the first defendant in England to face trial for the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.

Kiena blamed her partner for her death in a suicide note. He was cleared of her manslaughter, but sentenced to six and a half years in prison for controlling and coercive behaviour, and assault.

After the inquests into the deaths of Jessica and Kellie, coroners issued prevention of future death reports.

In Kellie’s case, the coroner said “matters of concern” included “a lack of understanding of controlling and coercive behaviour […] and the impact on victims”.

After the inquest into Jessica’s death, the coroner called for more “recognition of the link between domestic abuse and suicide”, saying “processes and policies do not seem to include this serious area to the extent that is required”.

Earlier this month, Sky News spoke to Sharon Holland, whose daughter Chloe took her own life in 2023. Sharon is urging the government to consider tougher sentences for those convicted of coercive control.

‘Difficult’ to identify coercive behaviour, detective says

At Cheshire Police headquarters, the serious case review team examines deaths that have happened in domestic settings.

The team identifies some of the factors that can lead to suicide, in order to help agencies improve their response to domestic abuse and prevent future deaths.

“Coercive and controlling behaviour is by far the highest risk indicator for domestic suicide,” said Detective Nikki Brown.

She said it can be “difficult” for authorities to identify what that behaviour looks like and said officers need to ask “direct” questions.

Another common factor is “separation”, with victims vulnerable after a relationship ends, while perpetrators can become persistent as they’ve “lost that control”.

“They just can’t let it go,” said PC Colin Charlesworth, while out on patrol doing welfare checks on victims with protection orders in place. “They’re obsessed… and want to make their lives a misery. We lock them up, send them down, they’re still doing it from prison.”

Other factors identified in the report include mental ill health, and alcohol and drug misuse.

‘Devastating’

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG), said “every death related to domestic abuse is a life cut short and a devastating tragedy”.

“The better we understand the links between domestic abuse and homicides, suicides, and unexpected deaths, the better equipped we are to prevent them from happening in the first place,” she added.

Ms Phillips said the policing report “rightly demands coordinated action across government, police and partner agencies to tackle these issues head on”.

“Our upcoming VAWG strategy will set out our ambition and concrete actions to strengthen our response to perpetrators and deliver on our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade,” she said.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

A farming mental health charity supported by Prince William has told Sky News it has seen a direct link between recent government policies and an increase in the number of farmers at crisis point.

It comes as a farming activist said it was William’s “duty” to speak up for farming – and criticised the Royal Family for being too quiet on the issues the community faces.

Sam and Emily Stables set up the charity We Are Farming Minds in 2020 after Sam tried to take his own life.

He speaks publicly about his experience in the hope his story encourages others to get help.

“[Farming has] one of the highest suicide rates of any industry [and] the pressures that the farming community are under are beyond immense,” he says. “It’s not a job, it’s a life, it’s a family, it’s everything.”

Recalling the day he tried to end his life, Sam says: “I can remember going to the farm, collecting the livestock.

“[There were] so many different things running through my head that morning, but one of them [was] knowing exactly what I needed to do, that life for me, the pain in my head, just needed to stop… And then I remember being in hospital.”

In recent months, We Are Farming Minds says it has been inundated with farmers in crisis and needing help. Sam and Emily say this is directly linked to the changes in government policy, especially around inheritance tax.

The changes to inheritance tax, revealed in the budget and set to come into force in April 2026, will see death duties payable by some farmers on agricultural and business property.

The Treasury estimates the changes will raise up to £520m a year. Farmers and campaigners say they threaten the future of thousands of multi-generational family farms.

Emily says her charity has “already had 11 counselling referrals this year alone, which is busy for us”.

“I think people are just feeling that… it is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she added

“You’ve got the weather… you’ve got variance in prices all the time. You’ve got… livestock dying. Everything’s so out of your control, and then to not have the support of your government is a massive, a massive impact on everybody.”

As tenants on the Duchy estate, they have received support from their landlord, Prince William, financially, through private meetings and support for their events.

“He certainly doesn’t say that he knows everything there is to know about farming,” Emily says, but adds: “It’s really great to be able to feed back to him and increase his knowledge as well about issues within the farming community.”

But what William is prepared to say on farming more widely right now really matters.

He became one of Britain’s biggest landowners when he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, which funds the heir to the throne.

This is why his actions are significant to hundreds of tenant farmers on that land, as well as the wider farming community.

And it’s why Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer from North Wales who has been heavily involved in the recent farming protests, is disappointed in what he’s seen.

Gareth says the Prince of Wales and the wider Royal Family have a “duty” to do more.

Speaking about farmers who contact him on social media, he says: “When you speak to a farmer who’s lost his dad a couple of nights before, and his father took his own life the night before the budget, because he had the good inclination that this was going to happen, it’s heartbreaking. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

He added: “They’ve been very, very quiet, the prince and the King, to be honest with you. But I suppose if it doesn’t go into their pockets, the inheritance tax won’t bother them.

“Prince William has the Duchy of Cornwall, now he’s running that, he should be connecting to these people. He should be talking to these people.

“These people have a duty to the farming community and to the countryside community to speak up, speak up for the people that are struggling and suffering.”

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A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We understand the importance of mental health support and this government is committed to tackling the mental health crisis in our farming communities.

“That’s why we are investing billions of pounds and recruiting 8,500 mental health professionals across the NHS.

“More widely, we are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce, reforming planning rules on farms to support food production, and making the supply chain work more fairly.”

I spoke to Prince William at a recent Duchy event, where he told me that since taking over the estate there have been certain things he’s wanted to change – which is why, across the estate, there is now an increased focus on mental health, homelessness and a push for the Duchy be net zero by the end of 2032.

It feels like a blueprint for his priorities as heir to the throne and a way of him showing what him, and his advisers, mean when they talk about showing “empathic leadership”.

He has publicly spoken about being an ardent supporter of the farming community, but with farmers and the government at loggerheads, it does highlight the quandary for an heir to the throne wanting to show more empathic leadership on key social issues, and the risk of overstepping the lines of political neutrality.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.