Scheme will see £1.5bn in loans to support housing associations deliver affordable homes
Sadiq Khan has confirmed London’s £1.5bn share of the government’s new low-interest loans fund and announced details of how the money will be administered.
The housing minister Matthew Pennycook first announced that the capital would get a 60% share of the £2.5bn programme, intended to help housing associations build more affordable homes, last month in a statement to parliament. The money will be used to deliver a 0.1% interest funding model first proposed by Housing Today and G15.
The CHDIF was established using a £322m grant from the national housing delivery fund (NHDF), announced last October as part of the government’s emergency measures to boost housebuilding in the capital.
With the additional money, the fund’s total investment has reached £1.82bn, close to city hall’s £2bn ambition.
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, said: “We’re doing something that hasn’t been done in decades – providing low-interest loans to build the affordable homes Londoners desperately need.
“There are so many good, affordable housing projects in our city that need some extra support to get going. These low-interest loans will help make these homes a reality.”
Establishing the CHDIF was part of the mayor’s 2021 manifesto commitment. It will allow housing associations to access loans at 0.1% interest over 25 years.
The new funding, which will be available in 2026-27, will support London’s social and affordable homes programme (2026-2036), which has already been allocated £11.7bn.
According to city hall, funding under the previous programme has supported the building of more than 25,000 council homes since 2018.
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