Orbit Chief Executive, Phil Andrew, supports calls for a long-term funding settlement ahead of the October budget.
I was pleased to read that the Chancellor is considering a 10-year funding formula for social housing providers ahead of the October budget.
A long-term funding settlement is long overdue if we are to balance our need to upgrade the homes of our existing customers and build new high quality affordable homes that meet the needs of our communities.
The ambition exists in housing associations to do more, and the government has made encouraging noises on planning reform and on new towns since coming to power.
Not-for-profit housing associations like ours want to both improve our current homes to ensure they are future-fit for customers and build new affordable homes to help solve the housing crisis. But after years of uncertainty and underfunding our sector lacks the financial capacity that we now need to rebuild at speed whilst we also effectively plan, fix, and upgrade our existing stock. We need long term funding certainty, coupled with appropriate protections for customers, so we can make the necessary strategic investments to make our homes greener, and therefore cheaper to run for our customers, and these improvements are key to the nation reaching net zero.
But that is only one part of the equation. To fully deliver the government’s desire of the ‘biggest growth in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation’ we also need urgent clarity on the new grant system from Homes England to truly accelerate the building of new affordable and sustainable homes, along with the regeneration of existing sites.
The government cannot build 1.5m homes alone, it needs to work in partnership with builders across the sector to meet its objectives. Housing associations are a key player in this, we just need the certainty to get going and build the affordable homes so many families need.
Phil Andrew
CEO of Orbit Group