HCA to release £300m for stalled housing schemes

The government’s housing agency is planning to launch a second round of its Kickstart programme, which is intended to get stalled housing projects off the ground.

In June prime minister Gordon Brown announced a “housing pledge” that topped up funding for the scheme to £1bn from that announced in the budget. Some £925m of this was allocated to projects over the summer, leaving £75m to spend.

Sources now say further due diligence from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which administers the programme, has meant many schemes originally chosen will not get final funding approval.

A source said: “The figures look like £300m might be the amount ready for the next programme.”

the figures look like £300m might be the amount ready for the next programme

Source close to HCA

This would mean that about £225m of schemes had not qualified for funding, after the HCA’s announcement in July. The programme, whose schemes include the 1,200-home Stanion development in Corby and Igloo Regeneration’s Bermondsey Square in London, can use different types of investment and grant to get projects going.

One of the first of these, the 4,000 home redevelopment by Berkeley Homes and Southern Housing Group of the 9,900-home Kidbrooke estate in Greenwich, is due to start on site this month.

The news comes as insiders claimed the HCA had spent most of this year’s affordable housing budget already, contradicting the experience of previous years, where much of the grant for the Housing Corporation – now part of the HCA – was spent in the last month of the financial year.

The source said: “The HCA has confidence over delivery of homes because over 80% of the baseline funding has been allocated.”