Govt targets 300,000 homes under new Affordable Homes Programme

The government plans to deliver around 300,000 new homes under its new £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme, “at least” 60% of which will be for social rent, it stated today (July 2). It also issued a “call to arms” to the social and affordable housing sector “to prove they can deliver at scale and at pace”.

Following its announcement in the Spending Review on a ten-year new Affordable Homes Programme, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced further details, with the newly named programme set to provide around 180,000 social rent homes - “six times more than the decade up to 2024” and linked to local incomes, it said.

MHCLG also noted that the government would be spending almost double on affordable housing investment by the end of this parliament compared to the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, which averaged £2.3 billion per year.

Homes England will be responsible for issuing most of the funding. MHCLG said that up to 30% of funding - up to £11.7 billion over the decade - would be used to deliver affordable housing from the Greater London Authority in the capital.

As part of …