The Week in Housing: what will the new Affordable Homes Programme delivery target be?

Good afternoon.

The unlikeliness of the government hitting its target for its flagship Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) 2021-26 was revealed this week in an appointment letter published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Emma Payne, who became the senior responsible owner for the AHP last month, was told: “The AHP was launched in September 2020 with a public commitment to invest ￡11.5bn to deliver up to 180,000 affordable homes right across the country should economic conditions allow.

“We have already identified that the programme is very unlikely to deliver 180,000 homes due to economic changes, and so we note that you will confirm new delivery targets shortly when the overall figures are ready to publish.”

A tough start to a new role, with the cost of borrowing and materials taking most of the blame. The picture is not much better in Wales.

The cabinet secretary for housing, local government and planning told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Cymru’s annual Tai conference that the government is “hanging on to our 20,000 target by the skin of our teeth” .

At the same time, the head of regulation at the Welsh government confirmed that it intends to consult on a timeframe for dealing with instances of damp and mould as part of a change to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.

With governments in England and Wales admitting that targets won’t be met, a credit rating agency also warned that the UK government’s wider aim for 300,000 new homes a year will?continue to be missed amid the “myriad ongoing challenges” still facing house builders, and “significant” policy reform is needed.

More skin and bone is going to be needed for the “uphill struggle” if the sector is to build through the economic uncertainty and wider global unrest.

The Labour Party fleshed out some of its past announcements by unveiling its ‘golden rules’ for building on the so-called grey belt, which includes a stipulation that a site must target 50% affordable housing.

With mayoral elections looming across the country, housing associations in the West Midlands have called on candidates in the region to deliver an “ambitious” devolved affordable homes programme ?with funding for regeneration and retrofit.

In London, Sadiq Khan pledged to end rough sleeping by 2030 if he is re-elected for a third term .

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