Multi-Billion Pound Investments to be Made for Affordable Homes Progress

It has been confirmed that there is to be a multi-billion pound boost to social housing across England. This confirmation comes from Secretary of State for Communities, the RT Hon James Brokenshire MP, as part of the big push to deliver new builds to communities in need of more housing.

This will result in around 23,000 new affordable homes, as a result of a £1.67 billion government investment deal. In an attempt to support struggling families, this will include the addition of at least 12,500 social rent homes to high cost areas.

This movement is part of a £9 billion investment by the government to help provide affordable homes. £1.67 billion of this was announced in March 2018 for London. This latest funding will go towards supplying such homes across the rest of the country.

Local authorities were also invited by the Communities Secretary to bid for a share of £1 billion extra borrowing in order to build these much-needed homes. This has resulted in a raise of £1 billion to the cap of borrowing available, to be split equally between London and the rest of England.

This extra financial flexibility has been requested by local authorities. It will be allocated to the areas with the highest affordability pressures, in order to ensure that homes are being built where they are needed most.

Overall, the aim of the government is to build 1.5 million new homes by 2022. This ambitious plan is thought to be achievable through planning reform and targeted investment.

James Brokenshire commented: “The government has ambitious plans to fix the broken housing market and build the homes our communities need.

“Today’s announcement is a further milestone. It will secure the delivery of an additional 23,000 much-needed affordable homes as well as paving the way for a new generation of council houses.

“The majority of these new homes will be in high cost areas helping to ease the burden of rent on hard working families and delivering stronger communities.”

The bidding for both of these programmes will now begin. The areas which have made successful bids for affordable homes funding will be notified throughout the year, and the councils that have successfully had their borrowing caps increased will be announced as a list.