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Chancellor expected to announce £50m social housing retrofit pilot
Rishi Sunak is expected to unveil a new £50m funding package for the social housing sector to pilot new approaches to low-carbon retrofitting of social homes as part of his COVID-19 economic recovery statement tomorrow.
On Wednesday, the chancellor will lay out the government’s plans to help the country bounce back from the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Several papers report today that a £3bn green investment package will be a key plank of the announcements, including £1bn to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings and invest in green heating technology. This also includes £50m for the social housing sector.
The Treasury hopes retrofitting social tenants’ homes could save some of the poorest households £200 a year in energy bills, according to The Guardian.
Heat pumps, insulation and double glazing will be among the retrofit measures paid for by the £50m, which is aimed at piloting new approaches to carrying out such work at scale.
The Financial Times expects the funding package will also include £2bn towards a new green homes grant, giving lower-income households vouchers to spend on energy efficiency schemes.
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The government has set a target to make all homes net carbon zero by 2050.
Estimates by social housing landlords have put the cost of making homes carbon neutral at around £20,000 per home.
At that cost, £50m would pay for works on around 2,500 homes. There are four million social homes in England.
Rob Wall, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: “We are pleased to see Rishi Sunak recognising the need to make social housing greener and more energy efficient.
“We have been asking government for investment in a retrofitting programme, to match the investment already being made by housing associations, and are glad to see they have listened.
“But we hope this money is just the beginning of a longer term commitment to decarbonising social housing.
“The sector was promised a £3.8bn ten year retrofitting fund in the Conservative manifesto in December and it is only through investment of this scale that we can take on the climate crisis.”
Clare Miller, chief executive of 125,000-home landlord Clarion Housing Group, said: “As the largest social landlord in the country, we welcome the government’s announcement that it will support the retrofitting of social housing.
“Millions of social housing residents live in older homes, which need investment to lower their carbon footprint, improve energy efficiency and cut their energy bills.
“The more quickly we can access this new funding, the more effectively we can cut heating bills in affordable homes across the country, cut carbon emissions and stimulate employment.”
Mr Sunak is also expected to implement a stamp duty cut for less expensive homes immediately, per the Daily Mail.
It had previously been widely reported that the government was planning to introduce a stamp duty holiday that would not come into effect until autumn – with some commentators warning that could grind the housing market to a halt in the meantime as buyers hold off on purchases.
Update: at 15.37pm 07/07/20 a comment from Clare Miller was added to the story.
