Earlier this year we submitted our asks to Government ahead of the Spring Statement.
Today Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement, with her plans to grow the economy.
For us the really key things that were announced were the things that will support us to grow and provide more homes for the people who need them, supporting our strategy. We welcome the additional £2 billion that will be invested in social and affordable housing next year. Any additional funding that we can get will help us to provide more people with a place to feel at home.
This funding will deliver up to 18,000 social and affordable homes, and we’ll be able to bid for some of it straight away to support our ambitious plans to build 1,500 new homes over the next three years, and more in the future. Of course, to support the growth we need the people and we need the skills. So, whilst we’ll need to know more detail, we also welcome the commitment to the £625 million package for skills in construction.
One of the challenges that we face, as a sector, has always been around planning. It’s great to see the Chancellor acknowledge that with reforms that should make it easier for house builders to build, by making more land available for much needed social housing.
The plans that the Chancellor shared today are promising. I was really pleased to see that, though these are great moves, more is to come with the promise of further announcements in June on wider long‑term investment into social and affordable housing. This should give social housing providers the stability and confidence we are calling for and which we asked for ahead of the Statement.
The Statement talks about going further and faster and that is definitely something that we can get behind!