PlaceShapers respond to Budget
30 October 2024
"We have already shared with the Housing Minister examples of how members could use this additional £500 million funding to swiftly move ahead with work."
Responding to the October 2024 Budget, Matthew Walker, Chair of PlaceShapers, said:
“We strongly welcome measures that will immediately lead to more affordable homes and begin to alleviate the nightmare of 1.29m households waiting for them.
“The immediate priority now must be to meet Government confidence in the sector by showing we’ve done all we can to stretch our capacity to build the new homes we need to address escalating housing demand and the crisis in temporary accommodation.
“We have already shared with the Housing Minister examples of how members could use this additional £500 million funding to swiftly move ahead with work that will immeasurably improve the lives and homes of people who have already been waiting decades for their communities to be transformed due to lack of funding.”
"Rachel Reeves' first Budget as Chancellor come as services are incredibly stretched and infrastructure across the county needs investment. But building more social housing can save money over the long-term and make a huge difference to people’s life chances.
"Any gap in funding for new affordable homes would have meant schemes that are ready to go would face significant delays, taking us further from the government’s target of building 1.5 million homes over this parliament.
"PlaceShapers will be seizing two opportunities. Firstly, to meet Government confidence in the sector to deliver the homes these positive measures in the Budget will unlock.
"Secondly we will now focus on supporting the Government's Housing Strategy and the spring Comprehensive Spending Review.
"While the government is rightly focused on increasing the supply of new homes, these must be the right homes in the right places.
"Alongside this, we know making funding available for regeneration could be truly transformative. It would allow housing associations to play their part in improving the quality of their homes, estates and communities. With the right support, we can also make spaces safer, greener and improve the quality of life for everyone who lives there.
"Our role as PlaceShapers is to bring insight and data which makes the social and economic case for housing-led regeneration and ensures it is part of the Government’s plans for housing in this country."