John Stevens (Letters, July 7) seems to be confused about "affordable housing".

Council rents are certainly more affordable to the tenant than rents in other sectors.

This is because they were originally set according to an historical averaging process.

As older properties were paid for from rental income, this helped to keep rents on newer propeties down.

Unfortunately, local authorities have since been prevented from reinvesting in their housing by the asset-stripping of both the Tory government and the current Labour one.

-Angela Goodman, secretary Defend Council Housing