NEWS·NOVEMBER 2025
Homes England has published outline guidance for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 to 2036, confirming a fund of at least £27.2bn over ten years. It is the largest commitment to affordable housing delivery in the country's history.
The headline is not just the quantum but the duration. A ten year programme replaces the stop start funding cycles that have frustrated registered providers and developers for decades, and it comes alongside a ten year rent settlement that gives housing associations confidence on income.
The programme is unashamedly focused on social rent, with the majority of funding directed at homes let at the most affordable tenures. Bidding is expected to open in the new year, with Homes England signalling an appetite for larger, strategic partnerships with providers that can deliver at scale.
For developers, the implications are practical. Section 106 affordable housing obligations become far more deliverable when registered providers have long term grant certainty behind them. Schemes that stalled over viability of the affordable element may now find a route forward. For land promoters and agents, the presence of a well funded, ten year buyer for affordable homes changes residual values on sites across the country.
The programme alone will not hit the government's 1.5 million homes target, but it is the single most important piece of demand side support the sector has received in years. We expect bidding to be competitive and early movers to be rewarded.
NEWS·NOVEMBER 2025
Homes England has published outline guidance for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 to 2036, confirming a fund of at least £27.2bn over ten years. It is the largest commitment to affordable housing delivery in the country's history.
The headline is not just the quantum but the duration. A ten year programme replaces the stop start funding cycles that have frustrated registered providers and developers for decades, and it comes alongside a ten year rent settlement that gives housing associations confidence on income.
The programme is unashamedly focused on social rent, with the majority of funding directed at homes let at the most affordable tenures. Bidding is expected to open in the new year, with Homes England signalling an appetite for larger, strategic partnerships with providers that can deliver at scale.
For developers, the implications are practical. Section 106 affordable housing obligations become far more deliverable when registered providers have long term grant certainty behind them. Schemes that stalled over viability of the affordable element may now find a route forward. For land promoters and agents, the presence of a well funded, ten year buyer for affordable homes changes residual values on sites across the country.
The programme alone will not hit the government's 1.5 million homes target, but it is the single most important piece of demand side support the sector has received in years. We expect bidding to be competitive and early movers to be rewarded.