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Housing minister asks Homes England to maximise social housing delivery
Matthew Pennycook has written to Homes England to ask it to maximise the number of social rent homes provided through the remaining Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) funding.
Mr Pennycook said this reflected “the high priority this government attaches to social and affordable housing”.
In the letter to Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, Mr Pennycook also asked the agency to “support plans for a future programme”.
The housing minister said he expects Homes England “to do everything in its power to accelerate development and increase delivery in 2024-25”, including “better leveraging of funding programmes” and “a greater willingness” to use powers like compulsory purchase.
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He said that while the detail of the government’s new long-term housing strategy was “yet to be determined”, Homes England’s two objectives of boosting growth through new housing supply and place-based regeneration would remain the same.
Last week, Inside Housing revealed that the government’s next five-year AHP was not expected to be announced until spring 2025.
Mr Pennycook also flagged the need to deliver value for money, which involves “the rapid implementation of a new target operating model” that focuses on “delivering successful placemaking” and the devolution agenda.
“I would welcome your proposals on how a new regional and place-based model should be implemented,” he wrote.
The housing minister mentioned the continued role of the government’s New Homes Accelerator, which was launched in August, and its New Towns Taskforce.
The accelerator will see 15 civil servants from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Homes England look to speed up the delivery of stalled schemes.
Mr Pennycook also called on the agency to continue supporting “the reform and diversification of the housing market”, including growing the SME and build-to-rent sectors, boosting the uptake of modern methods of construction, and engaging in more equity investments and joint ventures.
This week, deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner scrapped a review of the London Plan ordered by the last government with the hope of starting a “new partnership approach” on housebuilding.
The decision comes after then-housing secretary Michael Gove ordered Sadiq Khan to review his London Plan for housing in March and report back by September, claiming that a lack of flexibility in the mayor’s policy was holding back new homes in the capital.
Ms Rayner has now withdrawn the mandated review “as a demonstration of the government’s commitment to working in partnership” with City Hall.
However, in a letter to Mr Khan, she made clear that the new Labour government “does expect London to take steps to boost its output”.
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