The Labour chair of the Commons housing committee, Abena Oppong-Asare, is urging Chancellor John Healey to bring forward billions of pounds of planned spending on social and affordable homes in England. This call comes after housing associations indicated their readiness to build tens of thousands more homes.
Ms Oppong-Asare has requested that the Chancellor allocate money from the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) as soon as possible, rather than adhering to the current plan of allocation after the next election. She stated that families on social housing waiting lists require immediate action.
Housing associations have suggested they could construct an additional 41,000 homes outside London over the next decade if they received increased government funding. The National Housing Federation (NHF) estimates that an additional £5.3bn from the programme would be required to build these extra homes.
Ministers have previously announced nearly £10bn of allocations from the SAHP, intended to help build over 70,000 council, social, and affordable homes across England. They also plan to allocate £6bn to London immediately, with “significant sums” from the remaining £13bn due in the second half of the scheme, after the next election.