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Grant programmes in England deliver 54,000 affordable housing starts in a year
Grant programmes in England resulted in the construction of 54,000 affordable homes being started last year, the highest figure in a dataset stretching back to 2009.
Data released by the government today showed starts under schemes operated by Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) reached 54,364, a 16.7% rise on the previous year.
The previous high of 53,917 was set in 2009-10, the year in which this data was first collected.
But while 39,492 (73%) of the total starts in that year were for social rented housing, this year’s figure contained just 6,380 social rented homes (11.7%).
The statistics listed 17,539 (32%) as ‘unknown’ tenures. These homes were built under a strategic partnership deal, with the tenure yet to be finalised.
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A total of 17.6% of the remaining homes were for shared ownership, while 34.7% were for the higher affordable rent or London affordable rent regimes.
While the figures are the highest in this particular dataset, they are well below historic records. Councils routinely started more than 100,000 homes per year in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Figures from Homes England, which controls programmes outside of London, show it accounted for 28,457 of the starts – a modest rise on the previous year’s 27,707.
This means the rise was driven by the GLA, which funds new affordable housing in the capital and is allocated by Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London.
Completions of homes under government funding schemes totalled 38,169, the highest since 2014-15, when 58,739 affordable homes were completed.
Completions of socially rented homes rose to 4,792, substantially behind 2010-11, when 37,321 social rented homes were finished, but a strong rise from the nadir of 2018-19, when just 1,036 such homes were built.
Michael Gove, the housing secretary, said: “My focus is on building more genuinely affordable homes, so everyone can access a high-quality, affordable place to live.
“I am delighted to announce today that we have had a record year delivering affordable housing, with more than 54,000 homes started in the last year.
“This builds on our good progress so far, with more than two million homes built since 2010. We are getting on with delivering more affordable homes so we can get families onto the housing ladder and deliver for communities right across the country.”
Figures released by the Scottish government today showed a 7% rise in affordable homes completed, to 10,458. This is the highest figure since 2000.
The figures showed a 10% increase in the number of homes completed for social rent and a 20% increase in properties built for other affordable rent tenures.
