Extra £2billion For Affordable Homes Funded By Cuts To Other Housing Schemes

Theresa May’s conference pledge to invest an additional £2billion is coming from a cut in spending on other house building programmes, it has been revealed. The Prime Minister used her speech in Manchester in October to announce extra money would be pumped in to the affordable housing budget, as part of her drive to get “government back into the business of building houses.”But it is not new money, and is instead being raised “by reducing spending on ‘accelerated construction’ and ‘starter homes’ across the four years from 2017-18 to 2020-21.” Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of 28 November 2016, Official Report, column 1229, who the intended recipients are of the Government's £25 billion investment; how much each of those recipients will receive; and on what basis that funding will be granted.

Gavin Barwell: The Government’s planned £25 billion investment in housing means we expect to double, in real terms, our annual capital spending on housing over this Parliament. The funding includes:

·        £7.1 billion to deliver affordable housing.

·        £2.3 billion to deliver starter homes across the country to support first time buyers.

·        £8.6 billion to extend the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme to 2021 which will help more people take steps towards owning their own home.

·        £2.3 billion for a new Housing Infrastructure Fund which will be allocated to local government on a competitive basis. The Fund will provide infrastructure targeted at unlocking new private house building in the areas where housing need is greatest.

·        £3 billion for the Home Building Fund, including £1 billion for loans of up to five years and aimed at SMEs and custom builders. £2 billion of the fund is available for larger sites and infrastructure with a much longer loan period.

·        £1.7 billion of funding to pilot ‘accelerated construction’ to speed up house building on surplus public sector land

Government Could Buy Developers' Unsold Homes Under £2bn Fund

A £2bn fund to boost housebuilding could be used by the government to offer guarantees to developers that it will step in to take on properties that they are unable to sell. The accelerated construction fund, could be used to underwrite new developments on public land, and could mean the government taking on unsold properties, according to Sir Edward Lister, the chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which will oversee it. In an interview with Property Week, Lister said: “The way I see that going is guarantee money rather than anything else. “So it’s about us going to a housebuilder and instead of expecting the normal build-out rate of 50 units a year we’ll say, ‘We want you to build all 500 in one go and what we’ll do is guarantee to take them off you if you can’t find a buyer.’” Read more on the Property Week website.

Government Unveils £3bn Home Building Fund

At the Conservative Party conference the government will announce details of the long-awaited £3bn Home Building Fund that will combine cash from several existing funding streams and provide £1.15bn of new loan finance. Sajid Javid, communities secretary, will also confirm a further £2bn of funding for a scheme called ‘Accelerated Construction’ under which the government will take direct action to build homes. Of the £3bn Home Building Fund, £1.15bn will consist of new loans, the government has confirmed. The Homes and Communities Agency runs several funding streams to support building, including the £525m Builders Finance Fund, the £1bn Large Sites Infrastructure Programme and Build to Rent. Read more on Inside Housing.