Autumn budget: housing sector reaction

Rishi Sunak today announced what he termed a “£24bn multi-year investment in housing”, although the majority of the measures (see below) had been announced previously. These included the £11.5bn affordable homes programme, a £5bn building safety fund, details of the £2bn residential property developer tax and a £1.8bn fund for housing on brownfield land announced on Monday.

Many welcomed the confirmation of the affordable housing programme and funding for brownfield development.

Paul Nicholls, founder of developer Real, said: “As a residential contractor and regeneration specialist, the confirmation today of the £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme to build 180,000 homes and the announcement of the £1.8bn fund to support up to 160,000 homes to be built on brownfield sites is very welcome.

“The government must seize this opportunity to ensure public investment maximises the construction of affordable housing and supports the recruitment of as many new construction professionals as possible.

However, many housing figures were quick to say that the funding for brownfield land development would not be effective unless measures were put in place to make it easier to get planning permission for housing on industrial sites.

Jonathan Corris, partner at law firm Devonshires, said: “Developers and Registered Providers (RPs) will need assurances that the fundamental problems that they face getting planning permission on brownfield sites – especially from some local authorities – will be addressed to make them interested in developing these areas.

“This investment will not solve that issue alone and more needs to be done to ensure developers are able to get planning permission in less than a year to see the growth the government is hoping for.”

Dean Clifford, co-founder of developer Great Marlborough Estates, said: “Funding to unlock brownfield sites and a digitised planning system are welcome initiatives but they are only a small step towards delivering what is needed to meet the government’s own ambitious house building targets.

“Recent reports suggest that the government is no longer looking for a planning overhaul through moving to a zonal system used in much of Europe. However, significant reforms are needed if we are to deliver the much-needed homes the country requires.

Housing secretary Michael Gove is expected to announce his overhaul of the controversial white paper at a later date.

Bodies representing housing associations criticised the government for not making money available for building safety for works on social housing properties.

Geeta Nanda, chair of the G15 group of housing associations and chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley, said: “Today is a massive missed opportunity for the government to have put in place a comprehensive solution to the building safety crisis.

“G15 members are expecting to spend £3.6bn on building safety works and urgently need access to an expanded Building Safety Fund on the same terms as private for-profit companies.” 

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation said: ““Unfortunately, the consequences of no additional direct funding to fix building safety issues in social rented homes will be far reaching, leading to a loss of new affordable homes and less money for existing social homes.”

Others felt the budget was a missed opportunity to announce a national retrofit programme – something that was missing in the heat and buildings strategy announced last week.

Brendan Kilpatrick, senior partner at PRP, said: ““What is disappointing, given the UK’s leading position on climate change, is that there was no funding (beyond R&D tax relief) for much needed retrofit of existing homes, or new game-changing technologies which need boosting such as hydrogen-based energy.”

Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive at the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), said: “By supporting the industry’s plan for a national programme to retrofit our homes, the government could have delivered substantial progress towards net zero and unlocked a new wave of green jobs to help level up the country.

“Instead, attention to net zero was tokenistic, repeating old announcements alongside incongruous headlines around carbon-intensive investment in roads, cutting air passenger duty and fuel-duty freezes. “