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The Affordable Homes Programme since 2015

Status: Closed Opened: 19 Aug 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 17 recommendations 6 conclusions 1 report

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is responsible for the Affordable Homes Programme, intended to supply new affordable homes for people to own or rent. The programme is managed by Homes England outside of London and the Greater London Authority within London. Building on previous inquiries into Starter Homes , the regulation …

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Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Homes Programme since … HC 684 7 Dec 2022 23 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items
8 Recommendation Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Ho… Accepted in Part

The Department specifies the overall number of homes (not just affordable homes) that local authorities...

The Department specifies the overall number of homes (not just affordable homes) that local authorities should build each year, through a calculation known as the ‘standard method’. Local authorities must follow this unless they have exceptional circumstances, and face penalties under the Housing Delivery Test, if they do not deliver …

Government response. The government will consider additional ways to work with Local Authorities to match delivery with local need, while highlighting existing mechanisms in place.
HM Treasury
9 Recommendation Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Ho… Accepted in Part

We challenged the Department about whether housing providers build homes where they are needed most.

We challenged the Department about whether housing providers build homes where they are needed most. The Department does not allocate funding from the Programme based on its calculation of local housing need.20 Under strategic bidding, housing providers only state the region, not the local authority, in which they intend to …

Government response. The government agrees to consider additional ways to work with Local Authorities to match housing delivery with local need, including exploring giving greater control over the 2021 programme to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the West Midlands Combined Authority, …
HM Treasury
19 Recommendation Twenty-Ninth Report - The Affordable Ho… Accepted in Part

The Department told us that it could have set higher standards from the outset for...

The Department told us that it could have set higher standards from the outset for net- zero, but that doing so would likely reduce the number of homes delivered. We challenged the Department on this assertion, because it had not modelled the extent to which it might have been reduced. …

Government response. The government will explore the cost and deliverability of additional net zero requirements for a successor programme, while noting existing steps taken in the 2021 programme.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
22 Sep 2022 Emran Mian · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Jeremy Pocklington · Ministry of Defence, Peter Denton · Homes England View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
12 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Peter Denton, Chief Executive Officer, Homes England, re Pu…