Recommendation 13

We asked the Department what it now meant when it referred to ‘affordable’ housing, particularly in relation to the funding originally intended for Starter Homes that was subsequently redirected to a broader range of housing, including affordable homes.33 The 28 PAC’s Report, para 1 29 Q 68, HM Treasury, Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Ninety-Fifth and on the Ninety-Ninth to the One Hundred and Eleventh reports from Session 2017–19, CP 176, October 2019 30 Qq 68–69 31 Qq 72, 94–96 32 Qq 73, 94–95 33 Qq 60–61, 63; C&AG’s Report, para 9 12 Starter Homes Department said that ‘affordable’ meant different things in different contexts—different areas had different housing requirements for housing that is affordable, and it varied in meaning across different housing programmes.34 Homes England explained that when it referred to affordable homes it was using the formal definition as set out in the 2018 version of the National Planning Policy Framework, which covers homes for rent, sale or shared ownership at less than market rates.35 Homes England committed to providing us with regular updates on the breakdown of different types of affordable home it is delivering.36