£2 Billion Boost for Social and Affordable Housebuilding

THE CHANCELLOR has announced a £2 billion injection of funding to deliver up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes.

It will only fund development of sites that will deliver homes in this Parliament. It comes ahead of longer term investment in social and affordable housing planned later this year, which will provide additional funding for 2026-27 and beyond.

The majority of the funding will fall in 2026/27, but a tail of funding will cover completions of homes after this. All projects funded through this £2 billion will need to start by March 2027, and will need to finish by June 2029.

The government is encouraging housing providers to come forward as soon as possible with projects and bids to ramp up construction of new housing.

The funding is expected to unlock sites that are ready to start in places such as Manchester or Liverpool.

Social and affordable homes are often part of mixed tenure sites, so the funding will enable development in these types of projects.

David Thomas, CEO at Barratt Redrow said: “To increase construction activity and build the homes the UK desperately needs, we need support for demand across all tenures. As well as providing more much-needed affordable homes, this welcome investment will help unlock mixed-tenure developments and to create jobs and economic growth across the country.”

£2 Billion Boost

The funding will be made available to providers on the same terms as the Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-26. It will act as a bridge to the future grant programme to be announced at Spending Review on 11 June 2025. At this point government will set out the full funding for 26/27 and beyond, to supplement this down payment of £2 billion.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive at the National Housing Federation, says: “This funding top-up is hugely welcome. The additional £2 billion will prevent a cliff edge in delivery of new homes, ahead of the next funding programme being announced.”

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