Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the timely delivery of house building programmes by local authorities in areas that have high housing costs as a result of insufficient supply.

A range of factors influence housing costs, but the supply of housing remains an important one, especially in areas of high demand. We have provided a range of tools that support councils to address the housing needs in their areas, including delivering their own housing programmes. This includes our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, £4 billion of which has been allocated to the Greater London Authority to bring forward homes in London, and more freedom in how councils can spend the money they receive from Right to Buy sales. On top of the abolition of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap in 2018, allowing councils greater flexibility in their borrowing to build more homes.

Furthermore the £1.8 billion Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund package announced in 2021 to regenerate underused land and level up the country will support local authorities (and Mayoral Combined Authorities) to bring brownfield land into use; and, building on the success of the first round of Land Release Fund where £45 million was allocated to 73 local authorities - releasing land for more than 6,500 homes - we launched a further £20 million worth of investment unlocking 2,600 additional homes.