JV North has welcomed the government’s announcement of an extra £300m for the current Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
The consortium called for more funding certainty last year to avoid a housebuilding slowdown as the end of the 2021/26 programme approaches.
Usually government-funded programmes overlap with the last two AHPs running from 2018 to 2021 and 2021 to 2026 allowing construction to carry on unabated.
Chair of JV North, John Bowker, said: “This announcement, following funding in the autumn budget, helps maintain vital momentum so we can continue building given the desperate and growing need for more homes across the country.
“Moving forward, more long-term financial certainty is needed which we hope will be detailed in spring’s spending review.
“This will allow our members and the sector to deliver large-scale housebuilding schemes that can be written into business plans.
“This is crucial if we are to help government reach its target of 1.5 million new homes this parliament.”
JV North continues to call for a rolling fund to replace traditional five-year programmes to allow for continuous market engagement bidding that helps reduce the impact of volatile market conditions such as inflationary build cost pressures.
“Having certainty and a long-term plan will cascade through the sector giving housing association boards confidence to approve schemes at a time when financial viability is under heavy scrutiny,” adds Mr Bowker.
“Continuous funding will also avoid repeating risks where housebuilding slows or stalls as we get circa two-thirds of the way into a programme and enable larger-scale regeneration projects that make a significant impact to be delivered.
“Our members are hungry to build more, evidence of which can be seen in us breaking through the £100m mark for grant awarded by Homes England in the current AHP and us procuring a new four year, £500m housebuilding framework of contractors and consultants.”