"It also establishes a large network of organisations looking to share their skills and capabilities to expand the affordable housing sector and transform communities."
The allocation, which the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said was part of the largest single investment in affordable housing in a decade, will include the delivery of 57,000 homes for shared ownership, 29,600 for social rent and 6,250 affordable rural homes.
MHCLG said that the new partnerships which had successfully bid for their share of the funding consisted of councils, housing associations and private providers. The allocation comes from the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme for 2021 to 2026 which will deliver up to 180,000 new affordable homes, “should economic conditions allow”.
The £8.6 billion allocation, MHCLG noted, consisted of around half for “affordable home ownership, helping even more young people and families get a foot on the housing ladder”.
It added that the funding for close to 30,000 social rent homes – usually offered at around 50-60% of market prices - would provide “secure, affordable housing to people who need it most”.
Homes England, the government’s housing delivery agency, will deliver almost £5.2 billion of the funding allocation outside of London, with the Greater London Authority (GLA) creating homes within the capital.
GLA said it had funding to build 29,456 homes over the five year period. It is set to deliver 16,739 of the allocated social rented homes; more than half of these will delivered by councils. Local authorities are also set to build 12,024 of the GLA’s total homes allocation under the programme.
The total affordable housing investment, MHCLG said, could potentially support up to 370,000 jobs across England “for homebuilders, SME developers, and wider businesses supporting the housebuilding industry such as electricians and plumbers”.
Peter Denton, Homes England’s CEO, said: “Not only does today’s 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.”
