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Budget 2020: the housing bits of Sunak’s speech in full
Chancellor Rishi Sunak made a number of key housing announcements in his first Budget speech today. Here are the key passages from his speech
The below is from Rishi Sunak’s Budget speech delivered to the House of Commons on 11 March, 2020:
“Today I can make good our promise to extend the Affordable Homes Programme with a new, multi-year settlement of £12bn.
“This will be the largest cash investment in affordable housing in a decade.
“To support local authorities to invest in their communities, I’m cutting interest rates on lending for social housing by one percentage point, making available more than £1bn of discounted loans for local infrastructure and consulting on the future of the Public Works Loan Board.
“I’m confirming nearly £1.1bn of allocations from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to build nearly 70,000 new homes in high-demand areas across the country, a new £400m fund for ambitious mayors like Andy Street in the West Midlands, to build on brownfield sites.
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“And tomorrow, my right honourable friend the housing secretary will set out for the House comprehensive reforms to bring the planning system into the 21st century.
“But the housing challenge is most acutely felt by those with no home at all.
“So today I’m confirming nearly £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation.
“That will buy up to 6,000 new places for people to live, enable a step change in support services and help us meet our promise to end rough sleeping in this parliament.
“And to fund those rough sleeping measures, I’m confirming today that our manifesto promise to introduce a new stamp duty surcharge for non-UK residents will be introduced at a rate of 2% from April 2021.
“Madam Deputy Speaker, I have one further measure to announce on housing.
“Two-and-a-half years on, we’re still grappling with the tragic legacy of Grenfell.
“Last year, we allocated £600m to remove unsafe aluminium composite material – or ACM – from high-rise residential buildings.
“Today I go further. Expert advice is clear that new public funding must concentrate on removing unsafe materials from high-rise residential buildings.
“So, today, I am creating a new Building Safety Fund worth £1bn. That is what the independent experts have called for. That is what the select committee has called for. That is even what the opposition have called for.
“That new fund will go beyond dealing with aluminium composite material to make sure that all unsafe combustible cladding will be removed from every private and social residential building above 18 metres high.
“And my right honourable friend the housing secretary will spearhead our efforts to make sure developers and building owners do their fair share as well.”
More on the Budget 2020
Inside Housing is bringing you up-to-date news, analysis and comment from the first post-Brexit Budget.
Here are the details of all our coverage so far:
Shared ownership Right to Buy likely to be applied to all rented homes funded under £12bn programme The government is looking at allowing tenants renting homes built through the new Affordable Homes Programme the right to shared ownership of their homes
Fire safety costs ‘could still hit development pipelines’ despite £1bn fund Concerns remain in sector despite cladding removal fund
Budget 2020: an improvement on recent years but questions remain Jules Birch gives his verdict on the first post-Brexit Budget
Housing figures react to ‘positive’ Budget announcements for sector Reaction from key sector figures to the measures unveiled
The housing bits of Sunak’s speech in full Read the key passages from the chancellor’s speech to the House of Commons
PWLB rates for social housing cut to pre-hike levels The cost for councils of borrowing to fund social housing will fall
Budget 2020: the key housing measures at a glance An at-a-glance guide to the key Budget announcements for the sector
Chancellor announces additional £12bn for Affordable Homes Programme Rishi Sunak announces the largest affordable grant programme in years
£650m fund to tackle rough sleeping The chancellor promises to fund 6,000 new places for rough sleepers to live
£1bn Building Safety Fund to remove ‘all forms’ of cladding The government pledges money to make all buildings safer
Housing secretary to announce planning reforms Ministers will set plans to reform the planning system on Thursday
Pre-Budget:
What should the housing sector look out for in today’s Budget? Peter Apps runs through the issues the sector should be looking out for
The housing sector is right to feel anxious about tomorrow’s Budget The government has indicated that its main focus with regard to housing policy is homeownership. The sector should be nervous about what this means for its spending priorities, writes John Perry
What the sector wants from the chancellor James Wilmore sifts through the submissions from the sector’s biggest players to find out what they want from the Budget later today
Conservative MPs urge chancellor to use Budget to build more social housing A group of 27 Conservative MPs and the mayor of the West Midlands have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of the Budget statement to urge him to allocate more money to building social housing.
How this Budget will signal the government’s direction of travel on housing With the first post-Brexit Budget due, Kate Henderson assesses the issues on which the sector has been lobbying
Budget 2020: housing measures at a glance
- A new Affordable Homes Programme of £12bn
- A £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings
- £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation
- £400m for ambitious regional mayors to build homes on brownfield sites
- Promise to announce measures to change the planning system tomorrow
- A 1% cut on the Public Works Loan Board interest rate, used by local authorities to fund housebuilding
- A temporary removal of the minimum income floor (which calculates assumed earnings for self-employed people) in Universal Credit as part of the government’s response to coronavirus
- £200m for communities in areas that repeatedly flood
