First allocations revealed for £39bn social housing plan

The government has confirmed the initial locations for a decade-long affordable homes scheme, with more than £9bn earmarked to support delivery of 70,000 homes as part of the initial phase.

The funding has been allocated to 33 partner organisations, with more than £2bn earmarked to build 20,000 homes outside the capital, while regional authorities will set the strategic direction for the programme.

Today’s announcement fires the starting pistol on a wider government plan to build 300,000 social and affordable homes across the nation, under a Social and Affordable Homes Programme set to run to 2036.

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“Nearly £10bn will go to councils and housing associations to build genuinely affordable homes, most of them for social rent, in the places where families are waiting longest,” said Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.

“Councils built this country out of a housing crisis once before. Backed properly, and trusted to get on with it, they will do it again.”

The largest individual share of regional spending has been allocated to Greater Manchester, with £529m allocated for around 4,400 homes. Authorities in West and South Yorkshire will receive around £700m to build 6,200 homes.

The North East gets £445m, while Liverpool City Region will receive £380m.

A total of £409m has been allocated to the West Midlands to support around 3,200 homes, welcomed by WM Mayor, Richard Parker, who said the funding would provide residents with the “housing stability and security they need to get on in life”.

“For decades there’s been a chronic underinvestment in council homes and genuinely affordable housing – and it’s left us with the housing crisis we face today,” he said.

“I believe people deserve better, which is why my focus has been on fixing the mistakes of the past and rebuilding our housing stock.

“We’ve already started turning around years of underinvestment in social housing but the Prime Minister’s announcement today will see us work together as a region and take this social housing mission to the next level.”

Four newly-minted strategic mayoral authorities announced last month in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the East Midlands, West of England, and York and North Yorkshire will also be able to set the strategic direction of programmes in their area.

The government says that more than £16bn remains to be allocated outside London in later phases of the programme, with ministers set to prioritise social rent homes and council housebuilding, which it says will deliver the largest expansion of council housing in decades.

Local authorities will also be able to reinvest all £1.61bn raised through sales of council homes under the Right to Buy scheme in 2025/26.

Outside London, the Social and Affordable Homes Programme is administered by Homes England, with the government’s investment poised to unlock “thousands of much-needed homes across England”, according to chief executive Amy Rees.

The full list of organisations selected is: