The Chancellor is expected to announce the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation, allocating £39 billion over the next decade as part of a new Affordable Housing Programme.
Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said:
“Rachel Reeves is backing up her planning reforms with the funding required to build the social and affordable homes the nation so desperately needs. This is a significant step in the right direction and demonstrates that both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have a long-term plan to fix the housing crisis and are not afraid to share the limelight for the good of the nation.”
The Government confirmed that spending on affordable housing will almost double by the end of this parliament. This will be further supported by a ten-year social rent settlement of CPI+1% beginning in 2026.
Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at the NFB and the House Builders Association (HBA), commented:
“This is fantastic news. It shows that the Government realises it must be a key player in addressing the housing crisis and building the social homes of tomorrow.
This decision benefits stakeholders across the industry. From contractors, who will deliver the social and affordable homes for councils, and housebuilders who have seen a drop off in housing associations purchasing their affordable homes. To Homes England, who are tasked with increasing affordable housing supply, and councils who are struggling to fund projects due to rising construction costs and viability challenges.
The UK has become an international outlier in the delivery of affordable housing, in part because it has become politically expedient to blame private developers for not building the homes that the public sector should have been building. We therefore hope that the Government now uses its New Towns and Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) policies to build the social and affordable homes that councils chose not to build when interests rates were almost at zero.”
