£8.6bn for Affordable Homes

Thousands of people who want to get onto the housing ladder are to receive help thanks to funding worth £8.6 billion that will be allocated across the country.

This new funding is part of the single largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. The Affordable Homes Programme will deliver around 119,000 homes including 57,000 for ownership, 29,600 for social rent and 6,250 affordable rural homes.

This cash injection could support up to 370,000 jobs throughout the UK for housebuilders, SME developers and wider businesses supporting the house-building industry, such as electricians and plumbers. This is expected to generate up to £26 billion of other private and public investment.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Creating more opportunities for home ownership is central to this Government. This £9 billion funding is a landmark moment for our Affordable Homes Programme and will ensure good quality housing for all as we build back better after the pandemic.

“This huge funding package will make the ambition of owning a home a reality for families by making it realistic and affordable.

“We are also ensuring tens of thousands of new homes for rent are built in the years ahead, including social rent, so those on the lowest incomes can enjoy good quality, secure rented homes, built and managed by reputable providers.”

About half of the new homes from this £8.6 billion funding will be available for affordable home ownership, helping even more young people and families to get a foot onto the housing ladder. This follows on from other government schemes to help first-time buyers into homeownership including First Homes, offering new homes at a 30% discount on the open market value; and the 95% mortgage guarantee scheme, which helps first-time buyers secure a mortgage with just a 5% deposit.

CEO of Homes England, Peter Denton, commented: “Not only does this announcement give our new Strategic Partners the funding, flexibility and confidence they need to build much needed affordable homes across the country, it also establishes a large network of organisations looking to share their skills and capabilities to expand the affordable housing sector and transform communities.

“By forming Strategic Partnerships with a wide range of public and private organisations, we are creating the conditions needed for institutional investment to catalyse affordable housing supply and in future give local authorities more of the tools they need to plan and act strategically, shaping their communities and building new homes.”

The funding allocations are taken from the £11.5 billion Affordable Housing Programme, which is set to deliver around 180,000 new affordable homes should economic conditions allow.

Nearly £5.2 billion of the package announced will be delivered outside London by Homes England, the government body responsible for housing delivery. The Greater London Authority (GLA) will deliver homes within London.

Nearly 90 new partnerships – made up of councils, housing associations and private providers – successfully bid for their share of programme funding.

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