Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 16
16
To ensure the programme can get off to swift start, we recommend the Government allows...
Recommendation
To ensure the programme can get off to swift start, we recommend the Government allows grant funding to be used flexibly to allow providers to purchase new build homes or homes close to completion from developers which may go unsold in a recession. We suggest the Government looks at the National Clearing House Scheme from 2008—which served a similar purpose during the last recession—as a starting point. (Paragraph 94) Changes to the planning system
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The primary purpose of the Affordable Homes Programme is to generate new supply of affordable housing that would not otherwise be built. Acquisitions of existing homes using programme funding are therefore limited. To mitigate the disruption caused to home building the existing £9 billion Affordable Homes Programme has been extended by one year. This will save homes that would otherwise have been lost following site closures due to Covid-19. In addition, we have launched the new five-year £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme quickly to provide further investment and certainty at this time. We also continue to monitor the disruption caused to the housing market due to Covid-19 and engage with a wide range of stakeholders in the sector. The sales market remains buoyant, with transactions particularly high in the south of England. Builders are now largely back to the sites, with productivity close to the pre-pandemic level and home completions numbers similar to 2019 levels, however, the numbers of housing starts are lower compared to 2019 levels.