The Agency’s Corporate Plan, which covers the period April 2009 to March 2011, outlines how it will use £6.75 billion of its budget to directly deliver 117,000 new homes, the vast majority of which will be for affordable rent or sale. Thousands more homes will be unlocked by this funding and by the Agency’s wider regeneration and growth activities with a total budget of £13.6 billion. Projections by real estate service provider Savills, estimate the total number of new homes to be built over the same two year period to stand at around 260,000.
Within the affordable housing budget, over 63,000 of the new homes will be for social rent with nearly 43,000 for affordable sale via HomeBuy. An additional £350 million will be available to local councils to build new homes for social rent.
A requirement to invest in training and apprenticeship schemes will be built into all HCA funding agreements with housebuilders and contractors to help create jobs and ensure that there is a skilled workforce available in the sector when the economy picks up again.
HCA chief executive, Sir Bob Kerslake, said: “This Plan sets out our stall for the next two years. We will continue to put a premium on new and affordable homes, but we are about building communities as well so regeneration, improving existing stock and promoting sustainability will also be critically important.”
