Autumn Budget 2024 Representation

Earlier this month, the Northern Housing Consortium submitted its representation to HM Treasury in the run up to the new government’s first Autumn Budget, set to take place on 30^th October.

Our representation focused on how the new government can support the North’s housing sector to deliver on the government’s ambitions, including building 1.5 million new homes in this parliament, delivering the Warm Homes Plan and improving housing quality in both the social and private rental sectors, by providing the long-term funding certainty that providers need to plan their own investments.

The most important thing that we need to see from government, however, is an immediate two-year extension to the current Homes England Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). Our members, especially small and medium members who access Homes England grant through the Continuous Market Engagement (CME) mechanism, report that they can no longer access grant to develop new homes, as the current programme is now essentially out of funds. If providers cannot access grant funding upon which their development programmes rely, they will not be able to bring forward schemes, even if they have been identified and are ready to progress. This cannot wait until a new AHP commences in 2026 as schemes that have been identified will be at risk of falling through between then and now. A survey of a small number of NHC members found that there are more than 1,500 homes ready for development that cannot now commence due to funding uncertainty. This issue will be much larger across the North. This data was fed in to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Without an extension to the current programme, it is likely that affordable housing starts fall in the near future, taking years to subsequently recover. This will make it much harder for the government to achieve its target of hitting its target of building 1.5 million new homes over the next 5 years.

The major policy asks to support the housing sector in the North are:

1. A two-year extension to the existing Affordable Homes Programme to keep housing providers developing the homes we need, ahead of announcing a new post-2026 programme that can support regeneration and has the flexibility to work with Mayoral Combined Authorities to deliver on local priorities.

 

2. A new ten-year rent settlement of CPI +1% for social landlords so they can effectively plan their own investments in new and existing homes.

 

3. A long-term funding commitment for the decarbonisation of the North’s social housing stock of £500 million a year between 2025 and 2030, with a commitment to increase funding to minimum of £1 billion per year from 2030-2035, to cut carbon emissions, tackle fuel poverty and support the creation of up to 77,000 new good green jobs in the North.

 

4. A ten-year, £4.2 billion, programme of devolved brownfield funding to unlock the delivery of 320,000 new homes by remediating all identified brownfield land in the North of England. This needs to be based on a more comprehensive assessment of total project benefits in line with updated value-for-money methodology.

 

5. The government to consult on both funding and regulation, including a new Decent Homes Standard for both rental sectors, to tackle the challenges with the existing housing stock and the need to regenerate communities across the North. This will also need to include increased capacity funding for local authorities to effectively enforce any regulatory requirements in the private rental sector.

 

6. Permanently linking Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30^th percentile of local market rents to ensure private rental sector affordability and prevent future rises in homelessness

 

Tracy Harrison, Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive, said:

“Our budget representation has focused on how the Government can target investment to enable our members to make a real difference to communities across the North. They’re  ready and waiting to support the Government to deliver new homes,  warmer homes and to regenerate communities.

“However, to deliver this change members need funding certainty. A priority is an immediate two-year extension to the existing Affordable Housing Programme. Our members, particularly smaller and medium sized providers developing through Continuous Market Engagement, report that they can no longer access grant to build new affordable homes despite having schemes that are ready to start development, stalling the delivery of much-needed homes. This must be followed by a longer-term Affordable Homes programme which will be a key part of fulfilling the government’s ambition to build £1.5 million homes over the next parliament.

Other measures which will provide members with certainty to develop and invest in homes include a ten-year rent settlement at CPI + 1% and a £4.2 billion ten year brownfield remediation fund. Investing in decarbonising the North’s homes will pay dividends – £500m investment per year over the next five years and 1 billion for the following five years would cut fuel poverty and carbon emissions and help to create 77,000 good green jobs in the North.

“The government should also provide much-needed security to those in the private rented sector on low incomes and permanently link local housing allowance to the 30^th percentile of local market rents to prevent future rises in homelessness. The private rented sector has also been consistently shown to offer the lowest quality homes – it is vital that the government takes forward proposals to apply the new Decent Homes Standard to both the social and private rented sector, following effective consultation with the sector. They must also consult on funding and regulation to so we can work together to tackle the challenges with existing homes and the need to regenerate communities in the North.

“We must also recognise there isn’t ‘a one size fit’s all’ solution. If we want funding to address local issues there needs to be devolution where local leaders, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, are given the flexibility to use their funding where it’s going to bring the most benefit – for example, ensuring all areas can benefit from brownfield funding investment, not just those with high land values. We are pleased that the Labour Party was supportive of devolution in their manifesto and our members are already working to make their ambitions a reality.”

 

The full representation is available here.