NHF boss calls on Chancellor to bring forward £39bn SAHP funding

The chief executive of the National Housing Federation has written to the chancellor urging her to allow more of the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme funding to be spent more quickly to accelerate delivery.

The Treasury is limiting the amount of money that can be drawn in the early years of the 10-year SAHP, which is currently ‘overbid’ due to high demand in the sector for grant funding.

Homes England, which administers £27bn of the funding outside London, therefore last month wrote to providers asking them to rethink their expected timelines for grant payments under their SAHP bids, which would effectively mean pushing development back.

The Greater London Authority, which administers the £11.7bn allocated to London, has asked providers to submit revised bids due to high demand for grant.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said she has written to Rachel Reeves asking the Treasury to urge her to bring forward funding so its housing association members can “get building as soon as possible”.

Henderson said: “Over the past year, government decisions have put the social housing sector in a stronger financial position, and we are now seeing the results through ambitious bids to the SAHP from housing associations ready to deliver a new generation of social homes.

“However, asking housing associations to scale back these bids at a time when more families than ever are stuck in temporary accommodation, risks undermining that progress. It would waste the financial capacity the government has worked hard to unlock, stall momentum and delay the delivery of desperately needed new social homes.”

“Bringing forward more funding in the early years of the programme would turn capacity into starts on site, match the scale of ambition in our members’ bids and get more social homes built more quickly. It would also provide vital support to the construction sector and wider economy in the event of market downturn.

Richard Cook, chief development officer at G15 housing association Clarion, told Housing Today that the level of bidding shows the sector has ambition and a will to deliver.

“We need Treasury to back it now, don’t we?”, he said. “If you could spend the £39bn in the first five years you could get the delivery of affordable housing moving again.”

Amy Rees, chief executive of Homes England told Journalist at UKREiiF last month: “We have pushed people to do early delivery in the first three years, but we have to make sure the drawdown of their funds is really stuck to the delivery that we’re going to get”.