Housing measures announced in Government’s Autumn Statement

The Government’s Autumn Statement detailed an investment of £7.2 billion in housing, which means annual capital spending on housing is expected to double over the course of this Parliament.

Latest house building figures (24 November 2016) show housing starts at their highest level in more than 8 years and housing completions increased by 7% compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

The investment includes:

• a new Housing Infrastructure Fund of £2.3 billion to unlock new housing supply
• £1.4 billion to deliver 40,000 affordable housing starts by 2020/2021, plus relaxed restrictions on grant funding to enable providers to deliver a mix of homes for affordable rent and low-cost ownership
• £2 billion fund to pilot ‘accelerated construction’ with a view to speeding up house building on surplus public sector land
• £1.8 billion of extra spending by Housing Associations from sources other than central government
• funding for an expanded regional pilot of the Right to Buy scheme for housing association tenants and the launch of a consultation on banning letting agents from charging fees to tenants
• doubling the size of the Rough Sleeping Fund from £10 million to £20 million

A forthcoming Housing White Paper will set out further details of a package of reforms to increase housing supply and address rising housing costs.