- Funding and financial flexibilities for councils and other housing providers to accelerate social and affordable housebuilding.
- Upgraded standards to tackle damp, mould and poor insulation and cut the cost of living, including energy bills, for tenants.
- Comes ahead of £39 billion bidding window opening next month, which will deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes over the programme’s lifetime.
Thousands more families will get the keys to quality social and affordable homes under the biggest boost to grant funding in a generation, along with energy-saving standards to cut the cost of living for millions of social tenants.
New measures unveiled by the Housing Secretary will give councils, housing associations, and other providers greater financial support to ramp up construction of new homes. This will deliver on government plans to bring down record-high numbers of families and children stuck in temporary accommodation or on housing waiting lists.
Landlords will also have to meet robust standards to provide homes that are free of disrepair and damp, warm and energy efficient homes through a new Decent Homes Standard (DHS), updating decency standards for the first time in 20 years.
This is on top of new requirements to upgrade properties under new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards that could save social tenants hundreds of pounds every year on their energy bills.
The latest update comes ahead of bidding opening next month for the historic £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP), ensuring every single penny is spent effectively to accelerate social and affordable housebuilding at scale – and this builds on the Housing Secretary’s ‘rallying cry’ to provide hundreds of thousands of affordable homes for families priced out of homeownership.
As part of this national announcement, Stephen Morgan MP was taken on a tour of some of the city’s housing stock to discuss plans for maintenance work in social housing. The homes belonged to South England housing association Abri, who accompanied Mr Morgan on these visits to set out their ongoing maintenance and ambitions for the future.
Mr Morgan has commented upon the announcement of the Housing Secretary’s new measures, welcoming the new support for families.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“I am glad to have been able to visit some of Abri’s existing housing with them, where I had the opportunity to see the current conditions and discussed future plans for investment and developments.
“This Government remains committed to working with developers and housing associations to ensure that homes are not only available, but appropriate, for those who need them.
“I welcome the announcement of new measures to give councils, housing associations, and other providers greater financial support that will be able ramp up construction of new homes within this city”.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said:
“Every new social home means one less family stuck on a housing waiting list. Building more social housing is crucial to fixing the housing crisis for good.
“But that’s only part of the story. We’re also driving up the quality of social housing so they’re well insulated and damp-free to keep families safe and cut their energy bills in the years ahead.
“I’m calling on everyone who has a part to play to build, baby, build.”
Councils who have not built in years will be empowered to start building again as government removes administrative costs of council house building. Councils will be able to build up to 1,000 new homes without having to open a new Housing Revenue Account. This is a ring-fenced account for councils to manage their housing income and expenditure but comes with a set of administrative costs to open and operate.
Decisive action is also being taken to unlock homes delivered through Section 106 agreements where no affordable housing provider is willing to buy, with a new emergency, time-limited approach that will allow the tenure of uncontracted Section 106 units to be varied in such circumstances.
In tandem, the government will work hand-in-glove with providers, councils, and developers to agree a framework to get the Section 106 market moving again, with new measures to reset and expand the market, simplify the process, and boost financial capacity of providers to buy these homes.
Alongside building more homes, the government is overhauling living standards for millions of existing tenants. A new DHS will apply minimum standards to improve the quality of all social homes, including the condition of roofs, doors and windows, and a more robust response to tackle damp and mould – building on phase one of Awaab’s Law to fix these hazards within strict timeframes. It will also apply to privately rented homes for the first time.
From 2030, social landlords will also be required to upgrade homes to meet new energy efficiency standards, and this could include improving insulation, putting in solar panels or installing modern heating systems such as heat pumps. This will not only slash the cost of heating for families but also make homes warmer.
