Housing associations urge Chancellor to unlock £39bn for social homes

Housing associations and Labour MPs are urging the Chancellor, John Healey, to use this month's Budget to speed up spending on social and affordable homes.

They want a significant share of the Government's £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to be allocated during this Parliament. Housing associations say they could build an extra 41,000 homes outside London over the next 10 years with more funding.

"Families need to see action now"

Abena Oppong-Asare, the Labour MP, told the Guardian: "The government should use the upcoming budget to increase the building of social homes by ensuring a significant proportion of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme is allocated during this parliament."

"Families stuck on social housing waiting lists need to see action now," she said. "I urge the chancellor to ensure a significant sum of the £39bn SAHP is allocated during this parliament and that truly affordable social rent homes are prioritised as part of this package."

Sites ready to go

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, said: "Housing associations submitted bids with plans to build tens of thousands of affordable homes, but many organisations with sites ready to go and proven track records did not receive the funding needed to deliver these homes. With additional investment now, it is possible to help transform the lives of families in urgent need of an affordable home."

The Government's response

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing said: "We've already announced nearly £10bn of allocations from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme so we can start building more than 70,000 council, social and affordable homes across England. Our record investment will help families trapped in temporary accommodation or stuck on housing waiting lists into safe, secure homes."

What is the programme?

The Social and Affordable Homes Programme is a 10-year fund to build homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership in England. Housing associations and councils bid for grants, which cover part of the cost of building each home, with the rest coming from borrowing and rental income. Supporters of faster allocation say spending more of the money early would get more homes built sooner, and give the construction industry a boost at a time when private housebuilding is weak.

The Birmingham picture

More than 33,000 households are on Birmingham's housing waiting list, and the city has one of the highest numbers of families in temporary accommodation outside London. The council and housing associations are building new homes, including large regeneration schemes such as Druids Heath, where up to 3,500 new homes are proposed, but supply has not kept up with need.

What happens next

The Chancellor will deliver his Budget on Wednesday 28 October. Housing is expected to feature alongside measures on the cost of living, growth and public spending, with the construction industry also calling for long-term certainty on infrastructure investment.