The Chancellor’s Spring Statement came with a welcome announcement for our sector, as funding for the Affordable Homes Programme was extended by a further £2bn to deliver an additional 18,000 new homes as part of the current programme.
Our Social Partnerships Director, Stephen Sorrell MBE, was featured in Inside Housing’s coverage of the announcement, commenting on what he hopes for the future of affordable housing funding.
Read Stephen’s reaction in full:
“A further £2bn bridge funding for the Affordable Homes Programme is excellent news for registered providers and the communities they serve.
“Before this announcement, there has been concern across the sector about potential delays to delivery. For us, four of our eight initial affordable rent Extra Care Housing developments were potentially set to be delayed by a year. Extrapolate this across the sector and you get a sense of how significant the new funding can be.
“The bridge funding should help maintain momentum while we await news of the replacement for the Affordable Homes Programme in June. We hope this will come in the form of a bigger and bolder programme to enable companies like ours to attract further private capital into the affordable sector, with a focus on scale of delivery but also the right mix of specialist tenures.”