Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2025 to Question 63255 on Property Development: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the 2026-36 Affordable Homes Programme will allow a proportion of programme delivery to come from (a) acquisitions of existing (i) new build and (ii) second hand homes and (b) funding replacement homes on regeneration schemes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme will not have numerical targets for particular types of homes other than Social Rent nor will it have ringfenced budgets for particular regions or types of home beyond the portion allocated to the Greater London Authority.
While the new programme will focus on the supply of new homes, it will also continue to support some regeneration schemes that provide a net increase in homes on a site. The programme will also allow for a limited number of acquisitions of existing housing stock, to support wider delivery while more rapidly increasing the supply of social and affordable homes.
We will allow bids for individual projects on an ongoing basis, and for Strategic Partnerships over the life of the programme, including bids for funds over the entire 10 years of starts with homes completing after 2036 also eligible. A competitive bidding round for Strategic Partnerships will launch this winter, followed by later opportunities.
It is our intention to publish a full prospectus for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme in autumn 2025 and open it for bids in the winter.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of resolving shared ownership arrangements of properties where offshore freehold ownership precludes staircasing.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Leases for shared ownership properties, whether these are grant funded or Section 106 delivery, must follow one of the shared ownership model leases provided by Homes England or the Greater London Authority. These model leases contain a fundamental clause which ensures that staircasing is permitted. In certain types of shared ownership, staircasing is however restricted to below 100%, this is to ensure properties remain as affordable housing in perpetuity.
Properties sold by private developers, and without grant funding or through Section 106, are not required to follow a model lease when sold via a shared ownership arrangement.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking with the Mayor of London to increase the level of construction of affordable housing in London.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On taking office in July 2024, the government acted quickly to agree changes to the Affordable Homes Programme to strengthen the delivery of affordable homes in London, including providing the GLA with flexibilities on completion deadlines and allowing the GLA to fund some intermediate rent homes.
At the Spending Review the Chancellor announced £39 billion for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36; a 10-year rent settlement; an intention to implement a rent convergence mechanism; and £2.5bn in low interest loans to support new development (alongside commercial lending).
These measures cover the main elements of our social and affordable housing investment strategy in this Parliament. Alongside other aspects of our reform programme, including forthcoming details on future quality and safety regulation, they will give Registered Providers, including those operating in London, the clarity and certainty they need to quickly ramp up investment in existing and new stock.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to reduce private car ownership and improve the connectivity of public transport.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government recognises the importance of improving public transport to ensure that people have greater choice around how they travel and has recently confirmed its commitment to phasing out new cars that rely solely on internal combustion engines from 2030.
The Government have set out an ambitious programme of reform to help improve bus services and grow usage across the country. The Bus Services (No.2) Bill, introduced on 17 December, puts power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders and is intended to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities that rely on them. In the Autumn Budget, the Government also confirmed investment of over £1 billion to support and improve bus services and keep bus fares affordable.
The Government have also set out plans to create a unified and simplified railway that places train operations under public ownership and control, putting passengers first and rebuilding trust. The Railways Bill, which will be introduced later this session, will enable the biggest overhaul of the rail sector in a generation. Alongside this, the Prime Minister has announced more funding to deliver the largest rail investment in the North in decades.
As part of our commitment to local transport, we have uplifted City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding in 2025-26 by £200m, helping to improve the local transport in our largest city regions and drive growth and productivity across the country. This brings local transport spending for Metro Mayors in 2025-26 to £1.3bn. Also at the Autumn Budget, we allocated over £650m funding for local transport outside of our city regions to improve connectivity and support local growth in our smaller cities, towns, villages and rural areas in England outside London.
The Integrated National Transport Strategy will be published later this year and will focus on how transport should be designed, built, and operated to better serve the people who use it, connecting people to housing, jobs and public services.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether (a) her Department and (b) Homes England award affordable housing funding based on the Affordable Rent model.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department delegates delivery of the Affordable Homes Programme to Homes England outside London and to the Greater London Authority (GLA) in London. The government agrees budgets and targets with both agencies to deliver the programme’s overall targets for additional affordable homes.
Homes England has a published Capital Funding Guide which sets out the procedures and conditions which must be followed by providers progressing schemes for rent, including Affordable Rent and Social Rent. Detail on this can be found on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the target number of affordable homes provided through the 2021-26 Affordable Housing Programme is; and how many of those homes are (a) social rent, (b) affordable rent, (c) affordable home ownership, (d) supported housing and (e) rural housing across (i) England and (ii) London.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department published an update on targets in respect of the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme on 30 July 2024. It can be found on gov.uk here.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has shared targets for the programme in London. These can be found on gov.uk here.
Homes England set out their target for the programme outside of London in their annual report and accounts. This can be found on gov.uk here.
As set out in my answer to Question UIN 16935 on 16 December 2024, the government will continue to work with Homes England and the GLA to support them to deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and home-ownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Written Statement of 12 February 2025 on Further support for social and affordable housebuilding and next steps on supported housing, HCWS447, if she will list the (a) tenure types and (b) estimated average grant subsidy per unit of the 2,800 homes.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 12 February 2025, the government announced the allocation of a further £300 million to the Affordable Homes Programme. This will support the near-term delivery of more social and affordable housing, delivering up to 2,800 new homes with more than half being Social Rent homes.
As set out in my answer to Question UIN 16935 on 16 December 2024, the government will continue to work with Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to support them to deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and home-ownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.
While this funding remains open to bidding the average grant rates per home are commercially sensitive. The final grant rate and mix of tenure types will also depend on the bids received, and assessment of them, by Homes England and the GLA, including assessing deliverability and value for money.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to table 1b of Homes England's report entitled 2016 to 2021 Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme summary: end of March 2021, published in December 2021, what the average funding per unit of affordable housing was in each region for an (a) affordable home ownership home, (b) affordable rent home and (c) social rent home.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department delegates delivery of the Affordable Homes Programme to Homes England outside London and to the Greater London Authority (GLA) in London. The government agrees budgets and targets with both agencies to deliver the programme’s overall targets for additional homes and specific types of tenure, as well as types of home, including those built using of Modern Methods of Construction and Supported Housing.
In awarding contracts under the programme Homes England and the GLA assess the need for grant on a site-by-site basis. In agreeing how much grant a project requires they will take into account the costs for building out the site with how much grant is needed to make that project viable, and the overall value for money for the programme. The most recent publication, with data reflecting grant allocations to the end of March 2023, can be found on gov.uk here
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to provide funding for social rented housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In October 2024, the government announced £500 million in new in-year funding for the Affordable Homes Programme. As a result of significant demand from housing providers across the country, that additional funding is already oversubscribed.
In February 2025, the government announced a further allocation of £300 million to the Affordable Homes Programme. This will support the near-term delivery of more social and affordable housing, delivering up to 2,800 new homes with more than half being Social Rent homes.
We have asked Homes England and the Greater London Authority to maximise Social Rent homes in allocating the remaining Affordable Homes Programme funding.
At the multi-year Spending Review later this year, the government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on the regeneration of estates.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to supporting estate regeneration schemes to transform neighbourhoods by delivering high-quality, well-designed places, more homes, and opportunities for residents.
Tenants are key partners in estate regeneration, and their engagement is essential in any successful scheme.
Since 2023, the Affordable Homes Programme funding has been available to deliver estate regeneration schemes where there is a positive impact on overall housing supply.
In London, government is delivering additional funding through the £50 million London Estate Regeneration Fund, working in partnership with the Greater London Authority.