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Homes England may alter strategic partnership deadlines as a result of coronavirus crisis
Homes England may consider reviewing deadlines for the delivery of homes through its strategic partnership arrangements with housing associations during the pandemic.
Directors within strategic partnership organisations have told Inside Housing that their understanding is that Homes England will be “flexible” if they are to miss housing delivery targets as a result of the ongoing crisis.
Guy Slocombe, chief investment officer at Hyde, said the organisation will likely have to adjust its overall housebuilding target for the year.
He said: “Post COVID-19, our ambition remains undiminished and we will still be expecting to deliver somewhere in the region of 1,500 homes a year, but it’s evident that during the course of this year our target will need to be adjusted.
“By how much that tails off, remains to be seen.”
Mr Slocombe said that Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) have both been particularly forthcoming in articulating their willingness to help.
“With the GLA, we’ve been looking at this on a scheme-by-scheme basis and they’ve been extremely supportive,” he said.
“Our understanding from Homes England is they are considering how best to provide support where it’s necessary, which might include reviewing deadlines for strategic partnership delivery.
“They’ve also said they would be very supportive for innovative ideas to kick on development when we come out of the other end of the COVID-19 pause.”
In 2018, Homes England launched its strategic partnership scheme with housing associations, following the success of a similar programme launched in London by mayor Sadiq Khan.
Rather than bidding for grant on a scheme-by-scheme basis, strategic partners are provided with funding for an entire development programme and in turn must meet annual delivery targets.
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Mike Shepherd, development director at Vivid, told Inside Housing: “We’re fortunate that none of [our Homes England targets] bite in the short term.
“We are ahead on starts, so that puts us in a good place, but at the moment my programme has effectively stopped.”
Mr Shepherd said his team is currently focused on ensuring that development can restart quickly when social distancing measures are lifted.
He added: “I think that lag between starting construction and getting everything back up to speed could cause a risk in terms of our completions for Homes England. We’re confident we’re not there yet, but that could be something on the horizon.
“Certainly, through the strategic partnership discussions we’ve been having, there’s flexibility there and they’re very keen and open to working with us to try and minimise the impact and make sure that we can continue to meet the programme targets.”
A number of major housing associations – including L&Q, Clarion and Sovereign – have confirmed to Inside Housing that the majority of their sites have now closed down in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Housing associations across the country are also reducing spend on development as they prepare for a loss of income due to rent arrears and a pause on sales during the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Homes England said: “We know that COVID-19 is having major implications for the housing sector as a whole, and we are closely monitoring the market to understand the impact of this unprecedented situation.
“We are working with colleagues across government to make sure we take the right steps and remain in close contact with our partners, including housing associations, to listen carefully about the support they need.”
A spokesperson for the mayor of London said: “While we are still in the early stages of slowing the spread of this virus, it is already clear that we will be living with the economic and social consequences for many years to come – including on housing and housebuilding.
“We are in constant dialogue with our partners to understand the impact of the crisis on their current development programmes.
“We will work with partners to get projects moving as quickly as possible once the immediate crisis ends. We are also pushing the government to give us the additional funding and flexibility that is clearly necessary both during and after the crisis.”
