Abolish Homes England and let mayors lead on housebuilding

These SPPs, and the agency’s broader pivot towards a more regional and place-based operating model, reflects the reality that a single centralised arm’s-length body (ALB) cannot operate with the depth of local knowledge, integration and accountability required to drive housebuilding at pace.

If the government is serious about delivering 1.5 million homes they should extend this current trajectory to its logical conclusion: abolish Homes England and devolve the bulk of its powers to MSAs.

When Homes England was established in 2018 as the delivery arm of the previous Homes and Communities Agency, it made sense. No other tier of government was better placed to lead housebuilding and unlock additional sites. Local authorities were constrained in scale and capacity, MSAs were few in number and weaker than they are now, and the old tier of regional development agencies had been abolished.

Today’s landscape looks very different. MSAs play a significant role in housing delivery – for example, through mayoral development corporations and brownfield housing funds – and will assume further responsibilities through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Granting Homes England’s powers to MSAs would establish them as single, locally accountable leaders across the entire housing delivery chain.

Consolidating housing levers within a single body could cut inefficiencies. As a centralised ALB Homes England has been criticised for its “cumbersome and slow” processes, potentially deterring smaller house builders. Devolving funding to MSAs would shorten decision chains, allowing for more agile and faster processes, and creating space for experimentation, with different approaches able to be evaluated and scaled up if successful.

Furthermore, if MSAs are responsible for administering funding alongside setting local priorities and determining planning applications, developers and house builders gain clearer signals and greater certainty. This would create a more predictable environment and plausibly allow MSAs to attract higher levels of private sector investment than Homes England’s current ratio of £9 of private sector investment for every £1 of public money invested in equity deals.

“If MSAs are responsible for administering funding alongside setting local priorities and determining planning applications, developers and house builders gain clearer signals and greater certainty”

Empowered MSAs would also be better placed to navigate localised nimby concerns. The large and diverse electorates of mayors provide them with the legitimacy to take strategic decisions in the wider public interest and in the face of localised opposition. Simultaneously, mayors are closer to communities and thus better placed to engage in a way an ALB cannot.

The 1.5 million homes will not be delivered through central government diktat. The promising-sounding policy to automatically approve new homes near railways? It has trailed since January.

MSAs already play a key role in housing delivery and broader economic strategy. They will lead the forthcoming local growth plans, and further powers in these areas are forthcoming. Devolving Homes England’s powers is the obvious next step in this direction, creating locally accountable institutions with end-to-end oversight across the housing lifecycle and greater ability to drive investment, cut inefficiencies and overcome nimby objections. Homes England has served its moment but now is the time for MSAs to take over.

Sean Eke, researcher, Re:State (formerly Reform Thinktank)