Housing Minister announces £2 billion of new Affordable Homes Programme funding
On 25th March, the government announced a £2 billion top up and one year extension for the Affordable Homes Programme, aiming to deliver a further 18,000 new social and affordable homes. Following this, the Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook, has written to all housing association chief executives, through the Northern Housing Consortium, National Housing Federation and other sector bodies.
The Minister’s letter confirms that the majority of this new funding will be allocated for the financial year 2026/27, will be delivered under the terms of the current 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, and will prioritise the delivery of new homes for social rent. This means that this new funding will be able to benefit from the regeneration flexibilities introduced to the current programme in 2023, which allow grant funding to fund replacement homes on regeneration schemes where there is a net addition of homes overall.
The Minister also confirmed that the Spending Review “will set out the full details of a new grant programme to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme”, and that this will include further grant funding for new homes for both 2026/27 and subsequent years. This new funding, therefore, will act as a bridge between the current Affordable Homes Programme and its successor.
The full letter can from the Housing Minister can be found here.
In response to the announcement, Tracy Harrison, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium, said:
“We called for immediate action in the Spring Statement on the Affordable Homes Programme, so this £2 billion top up is very welcome. It will mean our members can continue to build much needed social homes at a time when housing waiting lists and homelessness are rising in the North. We are pleased that even in challenging times the Government is prioritising making sure everyone has a good quality, affordable, safe home.
“We look forward to details of the new longer-term programme at the Spending Review in the summer. We have called for the new fund to have a greater role for Mayoral Combined Authorities so there is more flexibility to meet local needs, something the Government indicated they are looking at in the English Devolution White Paper. To meet the needs of communities in the North regeneration and housing quality must also be a priority. This includes flexibility with affordable homes funding so it can be used to replace poor quality existing homes and a separate £1.37 billion fund over 5 years to support housing led neighbourhood regeneration in the North.”
You can read the NHC’s full Spending Review submission here.
