Skip to content

Date published: 30 October 2024

On the Affordable Homes Programme, Nicholas said: “It’s brilliant to see the Government’s continued commitment to deliver much-needed affordable homes and the long-term health of affordable housing providers.

"To further bolster the longer-term delivery of new affordable housing, the Government should set out more detail on the future funding programmes as soon as possible to give the sector the time to plan – and to give confidence to the supply chain

“The £500m top-up for the Programme is a positive sign for the sector, but it’s also a drop in the ocean considering the number of new affordable homes we need. £500m will only deliver approximately 5,000 new homes. It’s not just down to government to address the housing crisis, but this illustrates the scale of the issue. 

On the rent settlement, Nicholas added: “We welcome detail of the new rent settlement and consultation on a longer-term settlement. To further support affordable housing providers to deliver for our customers, we urge the Government to adopt a long-term ‘cap and collar’ approach to the social housing rent settlement.

"Previous changes to the rent settlement at short notice have made it very difficult to plan effectively, leading to questions about the financial sustainability of the sector, while increasing the perceived risk for investors.

"This long-term approach would ensure the sector has guarantees that rental increases would never fall below a certain percentage, but also reassures customers that rents cannot increase beyond a certain overall cap.” 

Follow Nicholas on LinkedIn for more.