Chancellor Philip Hammond gave his Spring Statement to
Parliament on 13 March 2019.
The Statement included several announcements on spending on
housing; these are not announcements of new money but confirm how
some of the money allocated in the Budget will spent.
Schemes among the announcements on housing spending
included:
- The Government will guarantee up to £3 billion in housing
association borrowing to support delivery of around 30,000
affordable homes.
- £717 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund will be used
to unlock up to 37,000 homes at sites including:
- £445 million for the Oxford-Cambridge arc to unlock 22,000
homes;
- £250 million for Old Oak Common in West London to support
13,000 new homes.
- Funding has also been allocated to Barnet council to provide a
new Thameslink station near Brent Cross to enable development of
around 7,000 new homes, and to a Borderlands Growth deal to support
development around Carlisle.
- A consultation paper on Infrastructure Finance has been
published.
- The Chancellor also confirmed that the Government will hold a
Spending Review which will conclude alongside the Budget; if a
Brexit deal is agreed, this will set department spending budgets
for three years from April 2020.
The Chancellor in the Spring Statement also
committed to adopting the Future Homes Standard by 2025 so new
homes built are built with the latest green technology - driving
down energy bills and reduce the impact on the environment.
Details of the new Future Homes Standard will be consulted on
during 2019 and any new council housing is expected to have to
comply with the new Standard.
It is not clear to what extent, if any, this new Standard may
influence proposals in the Social Housing Green Paper to review the
existing Decent Homes Standard.
ARCH Policy Adviser Matthew Warburton has produced an ARCH Briefing Paper on the housing
measures in Spring Statement for ARCH members.