16% of government funding directed to affordable housing

The CIH totalled up loan and grant funding to all planned government housing projects across the period and found that only £8bn was directly earmarked for affordable.

The largest single slug of funding is the £12.5bn of loan finance for the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, closely followed by £12bn of guarantees for the Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantee scheme.

The CIH identified £19.4bn of direct grant funding for non-affordable homes, and £7.9bn for affordable. Its analysis placed Starter Homes, which will be sold at a 20% discount and are considered affordable by planning regulations, in the non-affordable category.

Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the CIH, said: “Though some of the infrastructure and other funding may indirectly support the building of affordable homes, it is also very clear that the government needs to go further to address the imbalance in funding to make sure the level of direct support for the building of new genuinely affordable housing reflects the desperate need for this type of housing.

“We fear the current balance of direct support will mean it is not possible to build the genuinely affordable homes for rent and sale which we so desperately need.”

The figure comes ahead of the release of the CIH’s UK Housing Review on Monday, which provides a review of the housing market and government policy climate.

A DCLG spokesman said: “Since 2010 this Government has delivered 313,000 new affordable homes.

“But we know there is more to do. Our recent Housing White Paper sets out a range of measures to make housing more affordable, and we’re investing £7 billion in affordable housing across the course of this Parliament.”