Extend the Affordable Homes Programme – and then bring an end to short-term schemes

Launching a new development programme usually takes around 12 months of planning, and considerable funding to get into contract with participating housing associations and local authorities.

Given the flexibility that the current AHP provides in terms of tenures (grant can be used for affordable rent, social rent, shared ownership and rent to buy, for example), a better option would be to top up the existing budget and extend the 2026 deadline.

Housebuilding consortium JV North is calling for an additional £3bn – a reasonable, realistic request given the original fund was £12.4bn – along with two more years to take us to a 2028 end date. 

This would also avoid the cliff-edge development scenario we are currently facing.

The long term

Going forward, it is vital that housing is recognised as a key part of the national infrastructure, one not dissimilar to the NHS, given that health and housing are inextricably linked.

The damage inflicted to housing in the past 10 to 15 years, which is reflected in record homelessness and the number of people in temporary accommodation, means it will be at least one generation before the housing crisis is under control.

Therefore, we need to look at the bigger picture and, from a housebuilding perspective, replace short-term grant programmes of five years with continuous, annual funding that is always available.

Not only will this avoid repeating the risks outlined above where housebuilding potentially grinds to a halt as we get around two-thirds of the way into a programme, it also enables larger-scale regeneration projects to be delivered.

The current situation means the process of decanting people begins well in advance of any construction work starting, and the impact on tenants should always be at the forefront of everything we do.

We can’t allow timetables and the stop-start nature of funding programmes to dictate how we build.

Access to an ongoing, rolling fund would in effect also mean continuous market engagement bidding, which helps negate (as much as is possible) volatile market conditions such as inflationary build cost pressures.

Having certainty and a long-term plan would cascade through the housebuilding sector, giving contractors confidence to be more active tendering for work and invest in office and site staff so they have the capacity to deliver.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show borrowing at £14.5bn and national debt at £2.7tn, and so government expenditure budgets are going to be in huge demand. There will therefore be a limit as to what can be achieved initially.

The housing crisis will not be fixed overnight. Such deep-rooted problems mean that it will take at least two parliaments to turn things around, and that is with a long-term plan in place that also needs cross-party support.

Labour is right to warn that there is no magic wand, but a credible and clear vision for the future that does things differently is arguably what the sector needs more than ever.

John Bowker, chair, JV North