Government pledges £1.7bn to housing PFI

The government has confirmed funding of £1.7bn for 10 housing PFI schemes, in move that it says will provide 6,100 homes and create thousands of construction industry jobs.

The funding, predicted by Building magazine today, came as housing minister John Healey also announced that more than £430m has been invested in the first three months of the financial year by the Homes and Communities Agency on building 14,000 homes.

Another £300m has been allocated just in the last month, he said. In addition £35m has been allocated to the government's housing market renewal programme designed to regenerate areas of low housing demand in the north of England and the Midlands.

John Healey, the housing minister, said: "Building homes, creating jobs and lifting communities out of deprivation is a top priority for us in government. I'm determined to pull out all the stops to see new homes built to meet our need for more housing in Britain.”

The 10 local authorities who have schemes benefitting from the PFI announcement are: Northampton council, Nottingham council, Southwark council, Portsmouth council, Cornwall council, Birmingham council, Shropshire council, Stoke-on-Trent, Hull council, and Leeds council.

The housing market renewal money will be split between eleven separate schemes, with the Merseyside pathfinder New Heartlands receiving the most, at £5.1m. The West Cumbria initiative received the least, with just £200,000 allocated.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, said:

"The funding for additional homes announced by the government this month will add substantially to our funding available for new affordable homes, helping local authorities to meet housing need in their areas and simultaneously helping housebuilders and registered social landlords to maintain new build activity.