The Housing Forum has submitted representation to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget. We have five key areas where we have called for change:
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The Social and Affordable Homes Programme needs another £480m a year in order to refocus the remaining funds on social rent.
The funding already allocated via the SAHP is targeting 60% social rent, with the rest largely Affordable Rent and shared ownership. If the remainder of the SAHP is to be re-profiled towards social rent only, without an overall loss of numbers, an additional £480m a year is required.
- Treasury should provide first time buyer support and stimulate the market.
Stamp duty holidays can be used very effectively at times when the market needs stimulus to boost demand.
First-time-buyer support is the one piece of the jigsaw that is currently lacking, and is fundamental to attempts to step up the rate of housing delivery. There are developer-funded equity loan models that have been proposed.
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The Building Safety Levy should be postponed until October 2028.
This could not be coming at a worse time and will cause more developments to become unviable. It should be postponed for two years.
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Government should provide access to low-cost borrowing for councils to deliver new homes.
Access to very low-cost borrowing is critical to help make business plans stack up. The historic debt borne by councils should also be revisited.
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VAT should be removed from all types of retrofitting undertaken by social landlords.
This would help alleviate some of the extreme pressures on landlords’ balance sheets and enable them to make better decisions around the long-term future and viability.
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