Update on next Affordable Homes Programme needed or risk slowdown in housebuilding, consortium warns

However, no announcement of the next AHP was made in last month’s Spring Budget.

JV North’s housing association and local authority members are building more than 4,000 homes in the 2021-26 AHP. The industry group said more certainty was required “at a time when financial viability is under heavy scrutiny”.

John Bowker, chair of JV North, said: “If we do not receive news of the next AHP soon, there is a danger we will have a fallow period where housebuilding stalls.”

Despite the current programme running to the end of March 2026, this “is just around the corner in housebuilding construction terms”, he said.

He continued: “Larger developments start to become questionable due to the length of time they take to build, coupled with not knowing if the remaining funding will be available when they complete.

“Without certainty, housing association boards will be nervous about approving schemes and it could cause a slowdown in delivery.”

Last week, it emerged that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) had admitted the current AHP was “very unlikely” to meet its original target of 180,000 homes and that new delivery targets would be confirmed “shortly”.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) spokesperson said: “Our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme is open to new bids and we will continue to work with the sector to build more genuinely affordable homes as part of our long-term plan for housing.”

In February, the consortium marked the delivery of 10,000 homes with the redevelopment of a fire station in Liverpool.

At the time, Mr Bowker said: “JV North members can rightly feel a great sense of achievement at reaching such significant milestones – most importantly enabling 30,000 residents to have a place to proudly call home.”