Funding will be made available via strategic partnership and continuous market engagement routes
Homes England has confirmed the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) 2026-2036 will open for bidding on 24 February.
From that date, registered providers will be able to apply for grant funding through the £39bn programme, which is targeting the delivery of 300,000 homes over 10 years, with 60% of those for social rent.
Bids must contain homes that can start on site by 31 March 2028 and complete by 31 March 2032.
Successful bidders will be expected to demonstrate a successful track record of delivery, organisational capacity to deliver, how they are meeting regulatory requirements, board approval for the bid and other funding certainty.
The programme, announced in the summer spending review, will offer two routes through which providers can seek grant funding: strategic partnership and continuous market engagement (CME).
Under the CME option, an applicant would deliver on a scheme-by-scheme basis, while a provider would deliver a specific amount of homes over a set time period under a strategic partnership.
A ‘portfolio’ CME approach has also been made available for the first time, allowing bidders to deliver homes across multiple sites at once. Homes England said in its latest guidance that it expects between 300 and 500 new social and affordable homes to be delivered by 2036 using this model.
While bidding through the strategic partnership funding route will close on 15 April 2026, the CME option allows applicants to bid for funding for one (or more) development scheme at any time during the programme, subject to funding being available.
Homes England has also said that the SAHP will focus on council housebuilding and provide support for the delivery of specialist housing.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) is responsible for administering around a third of the total SAHP funding - £11.7bn - for use in the capital. It is expected that the GLA’s bidding will also open on 24 February, but Housing Today is awaiting clarification of this from City Hall.
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