What housebuilders need to know about the Spending Review
The package to build more homes and level up communities across England includes:
- £7.1 billion National Home Building Fund to build more affordable, sustainable and beautiful homes across England;
- Funding to level up and strengthen communities, including new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund;
- More money for councils, with access to an additional £2.2 billion to deliver services and £3 billion to help tackle the pandemic;
- An extra £254 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping next year;
- More than £70 million to implement our ambitious package of new laws to improve building safety.
A package to build more homes, end rough sleeping and support and level up communities across England has been welcomed by Secretary of State Robert Jenrick.
The measures were unveiled by the Chancellor as part of yesterday’s Spending Review. The Spending Review underlines the government’s immediate priority of protecting people’s lives and livelihoods as the country continues to battle the outbreak, and also sets out how the government will deliver stronger public services.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is receiving nearly £10 billion of funding in the next financial year.
The government is delivering more affordable, secure and greener homes for families across the country. Funding in the Spending Review will go towards our long-term investments in housing, including through a £7.1 billion National Home Building Fund and more than £12 billion being invested through the Affordable Homes Programme in the coming years.
The Spending Review also helps us go further in levelling up every part of the country, with a new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund to invest in local infrastructure and support economic recovery.
Councils across England will be supported with access to an additional £2.2 billion to deliver core services and more than £3 billion of additional support for COVID-19 pressures next year.
Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “Councils have played a critical role during the pandemic. We’re ensuring they have the resources needed to deliver great public services and help their communities recover and prosper, including more than £2 billion of extra funding for core services.
“Our £7.1 billion National Home Building Fund will help build the homes and the infrastructure communities need to succeed. Along with our Affordable Homes Programme, this brings investment in housing to almost £20 billion.
“The new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund will provide a holistic approach to driving prosperity, taking the unique circumstances of each local area into account. And we will continue to tackle rough sleeping, helped by an additional £254 million of funding, including accommodation and substance misuse support.
“This comprehensive package will help to build the homes the country needs, level up communities, protect jobs and public services while also supporting some of the most vulnerable people in society.”
As part of the Spending Review, the government has announced a National Home Building Fund investing £7.1 billion over four years, which will shake up the housing market by backing smaller developers, unlocking brownfield land and supporting innovative construction techniques.
The fund will support up to 660,000 additional jobs and unlock up to 860,000 homes. This includes funding for:
- a new ‘Help to Build’ equity loan scheme for people who want to build their own homes, providing access to low deposit mortgages
- £2.2 billion of loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and innovative housebuilders to support new housing in areas where it is needed most
- an additional £100 million of grant funding in 2021-22 for unlocking brownfield sites, supporting house building on land that may be less attractive such as ex-industrial sites
- This funding is on top of our unprecedented Affordable Homes Programme, worth more than £12 billion – the largest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade.
- Supporting local areas in recovering from the pandemic
The government has set out plans to further the levelling up agenda by launching a new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund that will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery.
The Spending Review also includes an initial £220 million of investment in the next financial year to help local areas prepare for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
In time, total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match receipts from EU Structural Funds, which were previously funded by UK taxpayers’ money and seen as bureaucratic and inflexible.
The Spending Review also supports reforms to building safety to make homes safer by providing an additional £70 million to help set up new regulators, build a new regulatory regime, empower residents to raise safety concerns and help remove dangerous cladding.
“We are also investing in comprehensive changes to the planning system, including an additional £12 million funding for the first stages of planning reform to improve the speed, quality and beauty of development, and empower local people to engage in the planning system,” the statement said.
Source: Show House News
