Funds shift to councils and smaller providers
Author: Pete Apps in Inside Housing |
Dozens more councils have been allocated funding for affordable homes and smaller housing associations have become the biggest bidders, as larger landlords shunned government cash in the 2015-18 funding round.
A total of 53 local authorities will receive funding under the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Greater London Authority (GLA) affordable homes programmes for 2015-18, compared with just 19 for 2011-15.
And landlords with fewer than 20,000-homes have snapped up 15 of the largest 25 grant allocations, which were revealed on Tuesday, compared with just eight in 2011.
David Montague, chief executive of 70,600-home L&Q, which received just £6.8m of grant compared to £35.8m in 2011, said: ‘Large and financially strong landlords are now less likely to rely on grant, and more likely to use their own resources.’
Ged Walsh, development director at 16,000-home Yorkshire Housing, which received £17m of grant, said: ‘A lot of smaller associations have been out of the development game for a while, but there do seem to be more coming in now.’
The HCA has only allocated £900m of its £1.7bn of funding, and some larger landlords said they may bid later for a greater share of the remaining grant.
But lower grant rates since the affordable rent regime, which was introduced in 2011, have pushed some away from bidding.
Keith Exford, chief executive of 60,000-home Affinity Sutton, said: ‘The allocations have been dominated by a small number of big players in the recent past. But the affordable rent regime, with such low grant rates and conditions attached, is not an attractive proposition, which is why we are bidding for less.’
The GLA has allocated just more than £400m to 54 providers in London, including 15 local authorities and private landlord Grainger.
Sir Steve Bullock, mayor of Lewisham – which received £6.1m – and executive member for housing at London Councils, said: ‘A significant number of boroughs have looked at the housing crisis in London and come to the conclusion that part of the solution is to engage directly.’
Rachel Fisher, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: ‘There is a greater diversity of bidders, which is a good thing. The big players are continuing to deliver, but are maybe using different methods of funding their schemes.’