What was in the Budget for affordable housing? Quite a bit actually, although we knew pretty much all of it already, thanks to leaks and pre-announcements in recent days.
So, what are the key points from the Budget for the affordable housing sector and what are the next steps for housing leaders and their comms teams?
Budget headlines
The headlines are much the same as two days ago and form part of what the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, called a £5 billion housing investment in 2025-26:
- Current Affordable Homes Programme: a £500 million boost to the current 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) in England to build up to 5,000 additional affordable homes
- Rent settlement: a consultation on a new long-term social housing rent settlement of CPI+1% for five years. The hope is to offer “long-term certainty for social housing providers, giving the sector the confidence to build tens of thousands of new social homes”. The government will consult on whether further potential measures, such as a 10‑year settlement, could provide more certainty. This consultation deadline is 23 December 2024 and has been published here [https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-future-social-housing-rent-policy]
- AHP beyond 2026: there will be an AHP in England after the current one. More details on this will be included in what the govt is calling “phase two” of the Spending Review – expected to be in the Spring of 2025. The next AHP will be to “support greater investment in new affordable housing from social housing providers” and will run for “at least the duration of this parliament”. It will support a mix of tenures, with a focus on delivering homes for social rent
- Right to Buy: Reducing discounts on the Right to Buy scheme and enabling councils in England to keep all the receipts generated. More detail has been published here
Building safety funding
One notable new announcement was the £1 billion allocated for next year to “speed up” building safety works – including social housing. There were also several other announcements of £230 million in funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, as well as a £1 billion boost to Discretionary Housing Payments and £3 billion in guarantees for SME house builders.
These housing announcements are much more substantial than previous Budgets and came despite the Chancellor’s candid admission of the need for a staggering £40 billion in tax increases – much of which (£25 billion) is to come from Employers’ National Insurance contributions. This is much more than the £22 billion “black hole” that the government said it needed to plug, which it had inherited from the previous Conservative government.
However, this, and the much-publicised changes to the way the government accounts for capital investment, did allow the Chancellor to pledge investment of more than £100 billion to “repair our public services” and “drive growth across our country”, including reiterating the government’s manifesto pledge to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
Next steps for housing leaders and comms teams
So, those are the Budget headlines – what are the key considerations and next steps for housing leaders and their comms teams?
It’s clear the lobbying by housing sector trade and membership bodies since July has been effective. Although it should be said they were pushing at an open door, nonetheless, at a time when public finances continue to be tight, securing some key asks on a long-term rent settlement at CPI + 1% and more grant funding now for affordable house building, is important.
I wrote previously about the importance of sticking to the script and this is exactly what the housing sector has done. It has stuck to clear core messages, backed up with robust analysis. As an aside, it has been great to see research by our client Savills underpinning many of these arguments by the NHF and HBF, as well as LGA, NFA and ARCH (apologies for the acronyms, but you know who they are!).
Housing Strategy focus
All eyes are now on the government’s Housing Strategy it has said will be published in Spring 2025, alongside the results of the three-year spending review. This is a clear opportunity to build on the comms work done to date to ensure the range of affordable housing need is met around the country.
Yes, the voices of developers and house builders will continue to be loud (and they will underpin efforts to hit the 1.5 million homes target) calling for first-time buyer support as the key to unlock increased housing supply. But the government has been clear that it wants to deliver “the biggest increase in affordable house building in a generation”. Working with the sector trade bodies and developer partners, now is the time is now to be making your case.
How best to do this?
- Be clear on your objectives. What do you most need in your areas to meet affordable housing need? Are you focused more on existing homes, or are there opportunities for you to help the government meet its 1.5 million homes target?
- Identify your audiences. Are you best to remain in the background and support the work of the NHF, CIH and others with ideas and case studies? Or can you be most effective focusing on relationships with local politicians and partners?
- Keep it simple. Have one or two key messages and stick to them. The Achilles heel for housing has been a previous tendency to a scattergun approach
- Bring things to life. Use case studies and analysis from resident engagement work, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, etc to clearly make your case
- Make an offer. Ideally, one they can’t refuse! The government has shown it understands it has a major role to play (mainly through increased grant funding) if its 1.5 million homes target and increased social rented delivery are to be met. But what can your organisation bring to the party?
For the first time in a long time, there are decision-makers in national and regional government committed to addressing the affordable housing crisis – on new and existing homes. The NHF’s CEO, Kate Henderson, has been regularly posting about meetings at Westminster with new MPs and the CIH is running a workshop on ‘Engaging and influencing the UK parliament’. As a sector, we have the access and the means – now is the time to use it effectively and ensure there are no regrets when the Housing Strategy is published in a few months’ time.
If you’d like a chat about your options and how best to contribute to the Housing Strategy while remaining focused on your organisation’s objectives, just let us know at hello@see-media.co.uk.
Stuart Macdonald is Managing Director of See Media
