The housing sector has been sharing its responses to the autumn budget and spending review, which was unveiled earlier today by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
There was a lot to digest for those who work in the industry, with announcements covering everything from affordable housing, cladding, brownfield development, and Universal Credit.
Here’s what housing associations, construction firms, homelessness charities, and more thought of today’s housing announcements.
Brownfield funding
Commenting on the confirmation of a £1.8bn brownfield development fund, Crispin Truman, chief executive of CPRE, said: “The good news is that a truly brownfield first approach does have the potential to breathe new life into those forgotten and derelict parts of our villages, towns and cities that local people want to see regenerated.
“Brownfield homes are a win-win for nature, climate and the affordable housing crisis.
“But to really bridge the gap between words and action, we must see these commitments backed up by a firm urban ‘brownfield first’ policy when the government revises the National Planning Policy Framework next year.
“Otherwise, we’ll continue to see poorly designed greenfield developments with no public transport links that siphon off a lot of public money.”
The National Housing Federation (NHF) said: “The additional £1.8bn for brownfield regeneration is welcome news, alongside last week’s confirmation of the next wave of Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which represents an important step toward reaching our net-zero ambitions.”
Paul Nicholls, CEO of contractor and regeneration specialist Real, said: “As a residential contractor and regeneration specialist, the confirmation today of the £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme to build 180,000 homes and the announcement of the £1.8bn fund to support up to 160,000 homes to be built on brownfield sites is very welcome.
“The government must seize this opportunity to ensure public investment maximises the construction of affordable housing and supports the recruitment of as many new construction professionals as possible.
“This is a golden chance to build back better with more people being housed in homes they can afford, built by a new generation of skilled British construction workers.”
Greg Hill, deputy chief executive Hill Group, said: “We welcome the news that the government has set aside almost £2bn for creating housing on brownfield schemes.
“This can’t come soon enough, particularly in the south-east [England], where good useable sites to build homes come at a premium.
“Our industry can deliver these much-needed homes quickly, but we need drastic improvements and a more efficient planning system to make this happen.”
The CIH said: “It is not yet clear how many of the expected 160,000 homes on brownfield development sites will be affordable and social rented homes.”
Cladding tax
On the announcement that residential developers with profits over £25m with be charged a 4% cladding tax, Jonathan Hale, head of Government Affairs at RICS, said: “The £5bn for cladding replacement – which we already knew was coming since February – will give more leaseholders greater peace of mind that their homes will be made safe.
“But it’s still well short of the £15bn needed that is estimated to fix every building, but the additional funding to deliver 180,000 much-needed affordable homes is welcome.”
The NHF said: “Unfortunately, the consequences of no additional direct funding to fix building safety issues in social rented homes will be far reaching, leading to a loss of new affordable homes and less money for existing social homes.
“However, we support the Residential Property Developer Tax, which goes some way toward holding those responsible for this crisis to account for the cost of making buildings safe in the future.”
Triya Maicha, partner at national law firm Devonshires, which represents Registered Providers, said: “With the increasing shortage of building supplies and labour over the past year, the ramifications of another cost to the house building industry and how this affects Registered Providers (RPs) will need to be monitored.
“Whilst the government’s announcement earlier this month, that not-for-profit RPs, including their wholly owned subsidiaries, would be exempt from the tax was widely welcomed, many small to medium sized RPs do not have the capacity to develop themselves.
“They rely heavily on section 106 deals and partnerships with housebuilders to deliver affordable housing and whether the ‘cladding tax’ will have a knock on effect on the viability of section 106 and package deals is something we will need to keep a close eye on over the course of the next 12 to 18 months.”
Homelessness
Commenting on the £640m pledged to help people who are rough sleeping or homeless, Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link, the national membership charity for frontline homelessness organisations in England, said: “Everyone deserves a stable place to live and the support they need to keep it.
“Therefore, we are pleased that Rishi Sunak has clearly listened to the concerns and needs of our members in the homelessness sector, giving them the stability of funding to provide meaningful support to people experiencing homelessness as we leave the pandemic behind, with many of our members reporting that rough sleeping is rising again.
“While the £640m announced towards tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is £110m less than the spend for this year, it is still a marked rise on pre-pandemic levels of investment.
“The full details of the money announced are as yet unclear, and there’s still a lot of work to do and measures to bring in for the government to meet its target of ending rough sleeping by 2024, but today’s budget is a welcome confirmation of their ongoing commitment.
“We look forward to working together with government to make its target a reality.”
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said: “The government has…recognised the need to continue investing to tackle rough sleeping with a commitment of £640m – ‘Everyone In’ demonstrated what can be achieved with adequate investment and commitment.”
The NHF said: “We also welcome the focus on homelessness prevention and longer term commitment to reduce homelessness, but it is disappointing that there is no additional, long-term funding for all forms of supported housing, which is vital for allowing those with support needs to thrive in their home and can reduce pressure on adult social care.”
Universal Credit
Commenting on the reduction of the Universal Credit taper – from 63% to 55% – the CIH said: “The announcement of the Universal Credit adjustment to work tapers and increased work allowances will be a significant change for working families.
“It will offset the rapidly increasing cost of living. The commitment to bring this in before the end of the year is very welcome.
“Although good news, it does still leave many households that cannot work facing real hardship, even with the additional £200m for the household support fund.”
The NHF said: “While it won’t mitigate the full impact of the loss of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, particularly during the winter months and for people who aren’t working, it is positive that the government has recognised the need to support families on the lowest incomes by reducing the Universal Credit taper.”
Katie Schmuecker, deputy director of Policy and Partnerships at JRF, said: “This is a tale of two budgets for families on low incomes.
“For those in work, the change to the taper rate and work allowance, alongside the National Living Wage increase, are very positive steps, allowing low-paid workers to keep more of what they earn.
“Together, these measures improve our social security system for working families and demonstrate a serious intent to turn the tide on the pre-pandemic trend of rising in-work poverty.”
She continued: “But the reality is that millions of people who are unable to work or looking for work will not benefit from these changes.
“The chancellor’s decision to ignore them today as the cost of living rises risks deepening poverty among this group, who now have the lowest main rate of out-of-work support in real terms since around 1990.
“Among the people in our society who cannot work are cancer patients, people with disabilities, and those caring for young children or elderly parents.
“Their energy bills and weekly shop are going up like everyone else’s, and they face immediate hardship, hunger, and debt in the months ahead.
“The chancellor had an opportunity to support families on the lowest incomes to weather the storm ahead, and he did not take it.”
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Today’s announcement is welcome news for those private tenants who have struggled to afford their rents throughout the pandemic, despite private rents falling in real terms.
“However it does not undo the damage that previous decisions to freeze housing benefit rates in cash terms will cause.
“It is simply bizarre to have a system in which support for housing costs will no longer track market rents. The chancellor needs to undo this unjust policy as matter of urgency.”
In a Twitter thread, Citizens Advice Scotland said: “Changes to #UniversalCredit so working people can keep more of what they earn are very welcome, and something we have been campaigning for.”
“However, for many it will not make up for the impact of reducing Universal Credit by £20 per week earlier in the month, particularly as inflation is rising and energy bills have gone up.
“In Scotland, around 4 in 10 people in Universal Credit are in work – so changes to the taper rate don’t help 6 in 10 claimants.
“Over 1.4million people in Scotland ran out of money before pay day during the pandemic, people are facing a perfect storm this winter.”
Also on Twitter, Greater Manchester Poverty Action said: “Reduction in #UniversalCredit taper will help some low earning families in Greater Manchester. BUT people unable to work face a tough winter without sufficient support from government to make up for the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.”
Further responses
Commenting on the lack of spending on social housing, the CIH said: “When we have a pressing need for more homes and especially the most affordable for social rent (100,000 across the UK as CIH set out in our submission), the absence of new investment for social housing today is disappointing.
“Research recently published by CIH and Centre for Homelessness Impact revealed how much more investment into more social homes could save in the long term.”
On the relative paucity of green funding announcements, Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive at UKGBC, said: “With the COP 26 conference just days away, the chancellor’s announcements felt like they were from a different planet and a different time.
“Whilst we welcome changes to business rates to incentivise investment in renewable technologies, new research and development funding, and grants for local authorities; there were no big announcements to fill the clear gap that has emerged around decarbonising existing buildings.
“With the budget and spending review coming together, this was evidently the chancellor’s big opportunity to plug the major gaps in the government’s net-zero and heat and buildings strategies, and put the UK on a firm path to net-zero over the next few years.
“By supporting the industry’s plan for a national programme to retrofit our homes, the government could have delivered substantial progress towards net-zero and unlocked a new wave of green jobs to help level up the country.”
She continued: “Instead, attention to net zero was tokenistic, repeating old announcements alongside incongruous headlines around carbon-intensive investment in roads, cutting air passenger duty, and fuel-duty freezes.
“If the chancellor is serious about building a strong, resilient economy, then turbocharging the green economy should be at the centre of all investment plans and skills initiatives, not merely be an afterthought.”
Commenting on the budget as a whole, VIVID, a Hampshire-based provider of affordable homes, said on Twitter: “We welcome the investment in #UKHousing in the #AutumnBudget. This includes funding to increase affordable housing, to bring brownfield sites into use, and to support homelessness.”
Image: Ilyas Tayfun Salci/Shutterstock
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