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Homes England funded more housing starts in 2019/20 than it has since records began in 2009/10, with the number of social rent starts almost doubling.
A total of 47,965 home starts were funded last year by government programmes run by the its key housing delivery body, a 5% increase on the 45,692 homes started in 2018/19.
Of the 47,965 starts, 35,809 (75%) were for affordable tenures, including 17,015 (35%) for affordable rent, 11,656 (24%) for affordable home ownership schemes and 2,399 (5%) for social rent. The remaining homes were for market tenures or the tenure was yet to be determined.
The number of social rent homes started in 2019/20 marked a 91% increase on the 1,255 social rent homes started in 2018/19.
A total of 40,452 completions were delivered through programmes managed by Homes England in 2019/20, a 0.4% increase on the 40,289 completions in 2018/19 and the highest number since 2014/15.
Of the 40,452 completions, 16,863 (42%) were for affordable rent, 12,191 (30%) were for market tenures, 9,920 (24%) were for affordable homeownership schemes and 1,478 (3%) were for social rent.
The vast majority of homes funded by Homes England in 2019/20 were delivered through it’s Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme, which is worth £9bn between 2016 and 2021.
It only became possible to fund social rent homes under this programme in late 2017 and there are still a number of restrictions in place around which geographical areas can bid for social rent funding.
The government has announced that the next Affordable Homes Programme, which will begin in 2021, will be worth £12bn, including £2bn for strategic partners.
Simon Dudley, interim chair of Homes England, said: “We are pleased to see that the proportion of affordable homes increased significantly last year and that increased government funding has led to a big increase in the social rent start figures.
“We don’t know the precise impact of the lockdown on completions last year, but we do know COVID-19 is having a major impact on the housing sector and the wider economy in the current year. So it has been really encouraging to see work on site starting to pick up again.
“We welcome the prime minister’s recent commitment to building more homes and the additional £450m secured for the Home Building Fund underlines our determination to support SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises].”