Government brings forward Affordable Homes Programme

The government has revealed that the prospectus inviting bids for its £12bn Affordable Homes Programme will be published later this week.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said Homes England will be publishing the prospectus, inviting councils, housing associations and private providers to start preparing their bids, as part of a series of announcements today (8 July).

The £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme will be delivered over five years from 2021 to 2026, with the aim of providing up to 180,000 new homes across the country.

The government has confirmed that £7.5bn will be delivered outside London by Homes England.

While the Greater London Authority has been offered the remaining £4bn.

Mr Jenrick has also announced a new model for Shared Ownership, which will reduce the minimum initial share someone can buy in a property from 25% to 10%.

The model will also allow people to buy additional shares in their home in 1% instalments, with heavily reduced fees and introduce a 10-year period for new shared owners where the landlord will cover the cost of any repairs and maintenance.

‘Today’s announcement represents the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade and is part of our comprehensive plans to build back better,’ said Mr Jenrick.

‘Thanks to the range of flexible ownership options being made available, more families across the country will be able to realise their dreams of owning their own home, with half of these homes being made available for ownership.’

The Local Government Association’s housing spokesperson, Cllr David Renard, commented: ‘It is good the government has acted on our call to bring forward the Affordable Homes Programme. It is also positive that the government is consulting on how homes can be made more accessible for older and disabled people, which we have previously said should be key components of our mission to build new homes.

‘With more than one million households on council housing waiting lists, it is vital that we build more housing for social rent, and we look forward to seeing more clarity around how this will be delivered.’

Photo Credit – Skitterphoto (Pixabay)