Housing minister tells Homes England to focus rest of AHP on social rented homes

The housing minister has written to Homes England telling it to focus the remainder of the £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme on maximising delivery of social rented homes.

In a letter to Peter Freeman, chair of the government agency, Matthew Pennycook re-iterated the new government’s ambition to deliver 1.5 million new homes in this parliament and set out his “expectations of how the agency can best support our ambitions”.

Pennycook said that the “difficult fiscal position” of the government and its consequences for the upcoming Budget and Spending Review would “require us to agree an updated set of strategic objectives” for Homes England.

He said that while the details of Labour’s long-term housing strategy was still being developed, he did not expect the two overarching objectives of Homes England - boosting growth through new housing and place-based regeneration - to change.

However, he said there were changes that the organisation could make to help the government achieve its housing goals.

These included taking steps “to ensure that the Agency is maximising the number of social rent homes” delivered through the remaining Affordable Homes Programme.

In July, the government announced that its flagship housebuilding programme, which is overseen by Homes England and the Greater London Authority, could deliver as few as 110,000, significantly lower than its original 180,000 target.

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Pennycook said that reversing the dip in housebuilding rates more broadly would require the agency to increase its “offer and role as master developer”, including making greater use of compulsory purchase powers

He added that Homes England should provide support to the New Homes Accelerator and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s work on new towns.

He also asked the agency to support the “reform and diversification of the housing market” by supporting the SME and build-to-rent sectors and the uptake of MMC.

The housing minister said he intended to issue a “chair’s letter”, like this one, annually and “without fail” to ensure Homes England was clear on its objectives.