Ministers Urged To Create 250,000 New Homes For ‘Heroes’ Of The Pandemic

 The Government is being urged to create 250,000 new homes for key workers as a reward for their efforts during the pandemic. The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) – a centre-right think tank – has called on ministers to set aside land for a new class of “homes for heroes”. The CPS said the majority of properties should be offered on a rent-to-buy or shared ownership basis, with the rest on long leases, with priority given to local key workers – both public and private sector. Read more on the Belfast Telegraph website.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/ministers-urged-to-create-250000-new-homes-for-heroes-of-the-pandemic-40855783.html

Net New Homes Rise By 1%

The number of net new homes delivered in England rose in 2019/20 by 1% on the previous year, resulting in the largest figure since records began in the 1990s. The latest statistics from the MHCLG show 243,770 net additional dwellings were delivered in 2019/20, compared to 241,130 in 2018/19. Last year, the number of net additional homes reached the highest level since records began in 1991/92. A previous peak of 223,530 homes had been recorded in 2007/8 prior to the financial crash. See more on the Gov UK website.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938173/Housing_Supply_England_2019-20.pdf

All Section 106 Homes To Be Subject To New Shared Ownership Model

The government has said that it expects from April that all homes delivered with funding from Section 106 developer contributions will need to follow its new shared ownership model, which allows buyers to purchase smaller initial stakes in properties and staircase in 1% chunks. The new details came as part of a consultation opened by the government today calling for responses to its new shared ownership plan. This includes previously unseen details about how the plan will work, such as how shared owners can buy 1% stakes in their purchased homes, as well as protect new shared owners from hefty repairs bills for the first 10 years. Download the consultation from the GovUK website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-model-for-shared-ownership-technical-consultation?utm_source=480c7867-aaf7-4cb0-8a59-890a109d294b&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=daily 

Funding Allocated For 3,300 New Homes For Rough Sleepers

More than 3,300 new long-term homes for rough sleepers and other vulnerable people have been approved. Backed by government investment of more than £150 million the new homes will be made available in every region of England. This will enable people who sleep rough, or at risk of sleeping rough, to be rehoused in secure, long-term accommodation, providing some of the most vulnerable in society with a permanent place to live and help to rebuild their lives. These will be available by the end of March 2021. Read more on GovUK.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funding-allocated-for-3-300-new-homes-for-rough-sleepers

Investment In New Homes Is Being Strangled

Smaller institutional investors are being locked out of investing in the UK residential market, a new report has found. UK residential is an attractive asset class for investors such as small pension funds, but there need to be more routes to market. Smaller investors default route to market is still investing directly via buy-to-let but this is a high-risk strategy, according to the study by report by Seven Dials Financial. It says the UK’s residential market is missing out on billions of pounds of potential investment from smaller institutional investors because of a lack of suitable investable vehicles. Read more on The Negotiator website.

https://thenegotiator.co.uk/investment-into-new-homes-is-being-strangled-says-new-report/

Flood Insurance Cover Does Not Protect Thousands Of New Homes

Tens of thousands of families who bought new homes in flood-risk areas are facing “crippling” financial costs, as they are ineligible for cover under a government-backed insurance scheme. Research by the liberal conservative thinktank Bright Blue found that 70,000 homes had been built on land at the highest risk of flooding in England since 2009, including 20,000 that were not protected by flood defences. Homes built after 1 January 2009 are not eligible for insurance under Flood Re, a government scheme launched in 2015 with the aim that about 350,000 homeowners would have access to affordable cover. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/21/new-homes-in-flood-risk-areas-not-covered-by-insurance-scheme

Government Unveils £6m Garden Towns And Villages Top Up Funding

A total of £6m will be allocated to help new locally-led garden towns and villages progress plans to deliver up to 200,000 new homes. An additional £1.9m will be given to councils in England to support new neighbourhood plans, which government says will allow “communities to get involved and have their say on the types of homes that are built and where.” The funding “builds on the government’s commitment to giving communities a voice on the development in their areas, including prioritising local brownfield land while protecting the green belt,” MHCLG has said. Read more on Housing Today.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/government-gives-6m-to-garden-town-schemes/5103704.article

More Than 500 Potential Housing Areas Identified On Green Belt

Researchers have identified more than 500 towns and villages in the South East that have the potential to deliver millions of new “climate-friendly” homes. The report claims the sites, highlighted using satellite imaging, could deliver more than 1.1 million new homes that would all be no more than a 45-minute journey away from central London. The Domesday Book database of sites reveals, in some cases, hundreds of acres of land, mostly currently used for intensive agriculture all within 800 metres of a station. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/more-than-500-potential-housing-areas-identified-on-green-belt/

Thousands Of Homes To Be Built In Flood Zones

Almost 10,000 new homes could be built on some of the most flood-prone areas of England, a Greenpeace investigation has found. They include hundreds of new-builds in Sheffield and Doncaster, the towns hit hardest by the latest floods. The Environment Agency told the BBC that virtually all planning applications last year followed its advice on flood risk. But it predicts the flooding risk will increase because of climate change. The Greenpeace study comes as hundreds of flood-hit homes in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire are still evacuated. It identifies plans to build a total of 9,688 new homes in high-risk areas. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50419925

Community Led-Housing Has Potential To Unlock ‘Thousands Of Homes’

Community land trusts have over 16,000 new homes in the development pipeline – thanks to the removal of barriers that had before prevented them. That was the figure shared by the National CLT Network’s Samantha Jones at the National Housing Federation’s Smaller Housing Conference. Focusing on the increased success of housing associations partnering with community land trusts, Jones said that the “common-ground” between the both can maximise the potential on development projects across the country. Examples included that of Norton-sub-Hamdon in south Somerset – a partnership between Wessex Community Assets and Yarlington Housing Group. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/community-led-housing-has-potential-to-unlock-thousands-of-homes/

West Midlands Partnership To Deliver 4,000 New Homes

More than 4,000 new homes are set to be built across the West Midlands, after a deal between the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Lovell Partnerships. The partnership is due to bring together public and private sector skills and investment to unlock old industrial land for development. Outlined in proposals, the 4,000 new homes will be constructed over the next eight years, aligning with the region’s efforts to build 215,000 new homes by 2031. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/west-midlands-partnership-to-deliver-4000-new-homes/

Plan For 25,000 Homes Must Be Scrapped Say Government Inspectors

Plans to build 25,000 homes in North Somerset need 'rewriting' after Government inspectors ruled council officers must go back to the drawing board. The process to create the West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) must be restarted and will take years to complete, according to planning inspectors. The inspectors dramatically called a halt to meetings after identifying 'significant concerns' with the plan. In a letter the inspectors told the West of England authorities they could not be certain the sites had not been determined on a 'robust, consistent and objective' basis. Read more on the North Somerset Times website.

https://www.northsomersettimes.co.uk/news/inspectors-call-for-jsp-to-be-scrapped-1-6273057

Slight Dip In New Home Numbers In July

The number of new homes registered to be built in the UK during July was 9% lower than a year ago, according to the latest NHBC registration figures. 14,262 new homes were registered in July 2019, compared to 15,719 a year ago. 10,398 new homes were registered for the private sector (11,877 in 2018), and 3,864 in the affordable and rental sector (3,842 in 2018). Although down on last July, this year’s total for the month is still above the average seen over recent years. Read more on the NHBC website.

http://www.nhbc.co.uk/media-centre/articles/statistics/Stats-May-July-2019/

£15m Government Plan To Bring More Homes

Development plans which could see more than 10,000 new homes built across England by 2024/25 are to be brought forward through a £15m government project. The ‘One Public Estate’ programme was launched in 2013 to ‘encourage’ the emergency services, local councils and government departments to work more closely together by sharing sites and creating public-sector ‘hubs’ – where services are delivered in one place. So far, the programme is said to have saved taxpayers £24m in running costs, created 5,745 new jobs and released land for the development of 3,336 new homes. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/15m-government-plan-to-bring-more-homes-and-jobs/

£250m Housing Deal To Deliver Over 25,000 Homes

Nearly £250m of housing deals will deliver almost 25,000 more homes, the Communities Secretary James Brokenshire has announced. As part of this, the government will be investing £157m in infrastructure such as building roads and putting ‘green space’ alongside developments. A new partnership has also been struck by the government’s housing accelerator Homes England to build over 10,000 properties on Ministry of Defence land on seven military bases across the country, with the ‘potential’ for more surplus army land to be used in the future. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/250m-housing-deal-to-deliver-over-25000-homes/

Government Housing Delivery Plan 'Flawed'

The government's housing planning system is unable to demonstrate it is meeting housing demand effectively, public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. The government wants 300,000 new homes a year from the mid-2020s onwards. The MHCLG has a standard method, developed in 2017, for local authorities to assess the number of new homes needed. The NAO says this has weaknesses. It says these weaknesses will result in a cut in the number of planned new homes in five of nine regions, while in London, the method will mean that new builds need to double in order to meet what the department thinks is needed. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47157413

New Housing Starts Rise By 12%

The number of new homes started in the second quarter of 2017/18 was up 12% on the previous year, latest figures from the government have found. Quarterly new build dwellings data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) shows that the number of homes started in the three months up to and including September had hit 44,740, a 12% increase from the 39,810 starts in the same period last year. The figures also represent a quarter-on-quarter rise, with the 44,740 starts 12% higher than the 39,980 housing starts recorded for the first quarter of 2018/19. Download the figures from the MHCLG website.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/house-building-new-build-dwellings-england-july-to-september-2018?utm_source=64f9b862-85dd-4f1b-bcc3-e50dfe9e8c37&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

£70m Homes England Funding To Bring 8,500 New Homes

Around 8,500 new houses will be built in Northamptonshire following a funding injection from Homes England, the government’s housing delivery agency. Located within an hour of London and Birmingham and inside the Cambridge/Oxford corridor, the two new residential schemes will help create around 3,000 jobs, as well as schools and leisure and commercial space. The developments in Kettering and Wellingborough have been made possible with a £70m loan from Homes England. The schemes have a projected combined value of £2.5bn over their lifetime, estimated to be 20 years. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/70m-homes-england-funding-brings-thousands-of-new-homes/

Housing Stats Slip Out Amid Brexit Chaos

With the government in meltdown over Brexit, eyes are off interpretations of the latest home building figures. The stats slipped, with Secretary of State for Housing James Brokenshire welcoming over 222,000 new homes delivered in 2017/18. To MHCLG, this represents the highest level of new homes delivered across England in all but one of the last 31 years and brings the total number of additional homes delivered since 2010 to 1.3 million. But a leading modular homes developer has already offered his own take on the stats as showing the growth rate in the number of new homes being built has slumped from 11.9% in 2016/17 to 6.4% in 2017/18. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housing-stats-slip-out-amid-brexit-chaos/

Government Fail To Meet 300,000 New Home Pledge

Despite insisting in the 2017 budget that the government intended to build 300,000 new homes a year to help ease the housing crisis in England, latest figures by the Office for Budget Responsibility have found that hosing stock in England is falling short of the 300,000 pledge by over 20%. At current levels, the OBR claims that 233,430 new residential properties will be built in 2018, 66,570 dwellings short of the required amount. Further predictions have indicated that within the next five years this figure would rise to around 250,000 new homes per year. Read more on Today’s Conveyancer website.

https://www.todaysconveyancer.co.uk/main-news/government-fail-to-meet-300000-new-home-pledge/