Strategic partnerships 2021 to 2026: how Homes England allocations compare to last time around

But this is not the first time Homes England has announced strategic partners. Following on from the success of a similar programme run by the Greater London Authority (GLA), Homes England announced its first wave of strategic partners in October 2018. Two more waves would follow with a total of 23 strategic partners being funded to start 13,475 homes by March 2022.

The funding allocations this time are more ambitious than previous rounds, and cover the five years from 2021 until April 2026. This round covers a longer time period but provides strategic partners with much larger grants overall.

One housing association to take part in the scheme in 2018 was Great Places, which secured £29.2m for 750 additional home starts. For the 2021 funding round, Great Places has increased its allocation nearly tenfold, with Homes England giving it £240.8m to build 4,920 homes – an increase of £211.6m on the last round.

Organisations to receive the largest grants for 2021-26 include Hyde, which secured £250m for 3,000 home starts, compared to being given £95.4m for 1,377 more home starts in 2018.

Guinness and Stonewater as a partnership have also been also allocated £250m during the new round, with a target of 4,180 home starts. In 2018, they received £224m for 4,500 home starts.

South of England housing association Abri, which was created after a merger between Radian and Yarlington, is a new participant this year. It received one of the biggest allocations in this round of funding, receiving £250m for 2021-26.

Other new recipients this year include Clarion, which is allocated £249.7m, Flagship (£93m), and Onward (£152.4m).

Four for-profit providers were also added to the list this year, with McCarthy Stone awarded £93.9m to start 1,500 homes, Legal & General given £125.5m to start 2,121 homes, Sage awarded £73.5m to start 1,750 homes, and Vistry handed £83m to start 1,474 homes.

Orbit was the only housing association to have received less funding than in the previous round, securing £103.9m in 2021 compared to £128.8m in October 2018.

However, there were some glaring omissions from this list of strategic partners. Several partners to have taken part in the 2018-21 allocations were not listed this time around.

These include Optivo, WHG, Yorkshire Housing, Southern Housing Group and L&Q. L&Q, regularly the sector’s largest developer, announced earlier this year that it would cut its yearly development target by 70% as a result of increasing fire safety costs.