Housing minister marks ‘milestone’ as bidding for SAHP opens

The 10-year programme has been designed to accelerate the delivery of hundreds of thousands of new homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.

A key requirement is that partners must be able to deliver at least 60% of homes for social rent, underlining the government’s commitment to prioritising the most affordable tenures.

The government hopes the updated guidance on the £39bn programme will “provide clarity and confidence for partners, helping them align proposals with local strategies while meeting national housing priorities”.

Just last week, Shahi Islam, director of affordable housing at Homes England, told Inside Housing that for-profit providers have received a “welcome boost” in the new grant programme, with recent changes increasing parity with not-for-profits.

The programme puts additional emphasis on delivering mixed-tenure developments and maintaining high standards of design, safety and sustainability.

Amy Rees, chief executive of Homes England, said: “The launch of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme marks a significant step in accelerating the delivery of much-needed affordable housing across England.

“Our updated bidding guidance clearly sets out what we are looking for: high-quality, deliverable schemes that prioritise social rent and demonstrate strong value for money.

“We are not just accelerating the supply of new homes, but reshaping the future of affordable housing across the country, driving forward the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes in this parliament and helping to create new vibrant, thriving communities.”

Access to the programme is available through two routes. The first is continuous market engagement, which enables partners to work with the agency throughout the life of the programme on a scheme-by-scheme basis. 

This approach provides greater certainty around grant funding, while allowing Homes England to respond flexibly to specific local housing needs.

The second route is the Strategic Partnership Framework, which offers long-term funding certainty to partners delivering at pace and scale, enabling the agency to allocate larger funding packages to support ambitious delivery programmes.

Mr Islam also told Inside Housing at the end of last year that partners may be able to access funding above the £700m cap under the SAHP, if the agency has “certainty and confidence” in deliverability.