UK Budget: £1 Billion Extra for Social and Affordable Housing as Mayors Get More Power

The UK Budget will provide more than £1 billion extra for social and affordable housing, taking funding for the 10-year social and affordable homes programme past £40 billion, and give England's mayors and regional leaders greater powers and funding. The plans, trailed ahead of Wednesday's Budget, are aimed at tackling a housing shortage that has left many families locked out of a secure home.
Councils will also be helped to borrow money from the Government to invest in housebuilding through an extension of preferential interest rates. An initial £285 million will go to mayors and regional leaders next year, with more flexibility to make investment decisions locally rather than bidding for separate Whitehall pots, and the Government will work with mayors to design a new £1.5 billion borrowing facility from 2028.
A Treasury spokesman said that for years families had been locked out of a secure and affordable home because not enough homes were built, and that the Budget would go further on restoring the public housing stock. Chancellor John Healey said the plan would make the most of untapped and wasted potential in English cities and regions, while Andy Burnham, who has long called for greater devolution, said the move would stop local leaders having to go cap in hand to Westminster for investment. The real test, housing groups say, will be how quickly the money turns into finished homes.
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