You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Sector calls for clarity over grant as uncertainty impacts development plans
Housing associations are calling on the government to provide more details over the availability of grant funding as the lack of clarity is already impacting landlords’ planned developments.
Inside Housing has spoken to housing associations and housing bodies which have said the uncertainty over funding through both the current and future Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) is affecting plans.
Dan Gray, executive director – property at Aspire Housing, said the landlord is currently in the dark over whether it is going to receive the total amount of grant allocated to an 89-home scheme that has been delayed due to the coronavirus crisis.
Aspire was set to receive £5m in grant for the £14m scheme, however this has now been brought into question as the development is unlikely to complete before the deadline for the current AHP, which requires schemes to be completed by March 2022.
Mr Gray said: “Without some kind of certainty over whether schemes can go beyond the guillotine, the risk is that Homes England and the housing sector will lose a lot of potential starts and completions.”
READ MORE
In the March Budget, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new £12bn AHP that will run for five years from March 2021. However the sector is still waiting for more details, including on which tenures will be funded through the programme.
Catherine Ryder, director of policy and research at the National Housing Federation, said housing associations are now facing a “cliff-edge”, which would “inevitably lead to a delay in building new affordable homes” if details were not provided.
Sources have told Inside Housing that they expect details on funding for new homes to come in the next few weeks as part of the prime minister’s post-coronavirus recovery plans for the country.
Paul Fiddaman, chief executive of Karbon Homes, said that while he was happy to “take government at its word” that the AHP would be “at least in quantum” to what has come before, it is still “an awkward one for boards to have to juggle” and that the government “could act to give certainty and clarity”.
Melanie Rees, head of policy and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “If we are going to deliver anywhere close to the number of new homes we need, housing providers are going to need certainty about the funding available and the tenure mix, too.”
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Building the homes the country needs is a priority for the government and we are working to protect capacity so that when normal service resumes, we can get Britain building more homes than ever before.
“At Budget 2020 we announced £12bn for affordable housing from 2021, the biggest cash investment in a decade. We can confirm that this funding will still be available for affordable housing and we will announce further details on the new programme in due course.”
