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Budget a ‘missed opportunity’ on housing, says NHF
The National Housing Federation (NHF) has said the Autumn Budget “missed a real opportunity” to deliver more social homes, with other housing bodies also expressing disappointment.
Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled several housing measures in parliament yesterday, including scrapping stamp duty for shared ownership homes, another £500m for the Housing Infrastructure Fund and nine more strategic partnerships with housing associations.
However, there were no major announcements for the sector, and the NHF expressed disappointment that ministers did not act on its calls for an overhaul of the land market.
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Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, said: “The chancellor’s announcements on housing [yesterday] are not the wholesale changes needed to fix our broken housing market.
“We desperately need tens of thousands more social homes to be built every year, which is why we are disappointed that the government has missed a real opportunity to overhaul how land is sold.
“The current set up means last year landowners pocketed more than the global profits of Amazon, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola combined, raising the cost of land and making it almost impossible for organisations who want to buy land for social housing to afford it.”
Ms Henderson welcomed the extra funding for Universal Credit, but warned the cash “must be used urgently” and that government must ensure claimants “receive the money they desperately need, when they need it, before even more people are moved on to the system”.
Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, also welcomed new funding for Universal Credit, but said it was “disappointing” that the waiting time for new claimants was not reduced and that Local Housing Allowance rates remain frozen.
And Sinéad Butters, chair of PlaceShapers and chief executive of Aspire Housing, said Mr Hammond had not deliver “the bold budget we needed to help end the housing crisis”.
She added: “The Chancellor was keen to commit to an end to austerity today. But for many people to really feel this we need far greater investment in homes and communities that feel left behind.”
Paul Hackett, chair of the G15 group of London housing associations and chief executive of Optivo, said some measures in the budget were “helpful”.
However, he added that the sector needs grant rates to triple to deliver enough affordable homes.
Hugh Ellis, chief executive of the Town and Country Planning Association, warned that Mr Hammond’s proposed extension of permitted development “is a mistake”.
“The evidence is clear that it leads to poor outcomes for people, and extending this will only make things worse,” he said.
Ben Derbyshire, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, said the conversion of offices to residential buildings through permitted development “has led to terrible homes” and demanded that the government’s consultation on the policy avoids “a repeat of these failings”.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) welcomed the extension of Help to Buy until 2023, but said it needed to understand “the impact the new restrictions could have on scheme sales in different locations”.
Also yesterday, Sir Oliver Letwin published his Independent Review of Build Out.
The report, which called for greater diversity of tenure on large developments, was welcomed by the HBF, the British Property Federation and Clarion Housing Group, the UK’s largest social landlord.
Autumn Budget 2018 - full coverage
All our Autumn Budget 2018 coverage in one place:
The Autumn Budget lacked the ambition we need Philip Hammond’s Budget fell short for housing, writes Melanie Rees
There were no big fireworks but the Budget offers an opportunity to deliver The Budget leaves associations facing a choice and we must now deliver, argues David Montague
Names of new housing association strategic partnerships revealed Homes England has released the names of the eight housing associations that have just signed strategic partnerships with the government.
Budget a missed opportunity on housing, says NHF Reaction to the Autumn Budget from several organisations, including the National Housing Federation
Budget small print reveals significant announcements for housing Housing policies contained in the Autumn Budget and background documents published yesterday will have a large impact, if they actually go ahead, writes Jules Birch
Hammond’s extra Universal Credit cash is welcome – but we need homelessness specialists in Job Centres too The Autumn Budget must not become a missed opportunity to put in place measures to prevent homelessness, argues Ruth Jacob of Crisis
Hammond announces extra funding for Universal Credit: Philip Hammond has announced plans to pump more money into Universal Credit in the Autumn Budget today.
Help to Buy equity loan scheme extended to 2023 for first time buyers:The Help to Buy equity loan scheme will be extended two years to 2023 for first time buyers only, with new price caps set for each English region.
Housing Live - the Autumn Budget 2018 as it happened: Live-blogging from Jules Birch reveals how the Autumn Budget unfolded and what it means for housing
OBR: scrapping council borrowing cap will deliver only 9,000 new homes: Scrapping the borrowing cap will deliver only 9,000 new homes over the next five years, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said.
Letwin: builders of large sites must accept more ’diversity’ of tenure: Builders should be required to accept suggested levels of affordable housing for large sites in order to receive government support, including Help to Buy, a major review of housebuilding has concluded.
Chancellor announces strategic partnerships with nine housing associations: Nine housing associations have signed new strategic partnerships with the government to deliver over 13,000 homes, Philip Hammond has announced.
Stamp duty scrapped for buyers of shared ownership homes worth up to £500,000: Stamp duty will be scrapped for first-time buyers of homes for shared ownership, the chancellor has announced.
Autumn Budget 2018 - the key housing policies at-a-glance
- £1bn to help fund the implementation of Universal Credit over the next five years
- £500m in Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock a further 650,000 homes
- The next wave of strategic partnerships with nine housing associations, which will deliver 13,000 homes
- British business bank guarantees for SME house builders
- ‘Simplification’ of process to convert commercial properties to new homes
- Providing funding to empower 500 neighbourhoods to allocate homes to local people in perpetuity
- Help to Buy equity loan scheme extended by two years to 2023 and limited to first-time buyers
- Retrospective inclusion of first-time buyers of shared ownership in stamp duty relief
