Government backed housing bank aims to support 500,000 new homes

A new government-backed ‘housing bank’ aims to unlock billions in private investment and enable the building of 500,000 new homes across England.

The National Housing Bank, a subsidiary of Homes England, will be publicly owned and backed with £16 billion of financial capacity, on top of £6 billion of existing finance to be allocated this Parliament. The scheme aims to leverage an additional £53 billion in private sector investment, creating jobs in the construction and delivering over half a million new homes.

Under this new approach, Homes England, the national housing and regeneration agency, will be able to issue government guarantees directly and have greater autonomy and flexibility to make long-term investments. The National Housing Bank will be able to act as a consistent partner to the private sector, bringing the stability and certainty that housing developers and investors need to make delivery happen. It will also support SMEs with new lending products and enable developers to unlock large, complex sites through infrastructure finance.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, said:

“We‘re turning the tide on the housing crisis we inherited – whether that’s fixing our broken planning system, investing £39 billion to deliver more social and affordable homes, or now creating a National Housing Bank to lever in vital investment.“

Homes England Chair Pat Ritchie said:

“Establishing the National Housing Bank, as a part of Homes England, builds on the Agency’s expertise at providing a wide range of finance to partners and places to unlock the delivery of new housing and mixed-use schemes.

“The National Housing Bank also responds to calls from the housing sector, mayors and local leaders to increase the scale of available public and private finance for housing and regeneration, provide a broader range of flexible debt, equity and guarantee products, and enable more timely decision making.”

The housebuilding sector has welcomed the news. Phil Mayall, Managing Director of Muse, the regeneration specialist involved in delivery of Stockport Exchange and Stockport 8, commented:

“Today’s announcement is hugely exciting for the regeneration and housing sector. Muse has long advocated the need for a longer-term, partnership approach to the delivery of housing in areas of most need and the new National Housing Bank achieves this at scale. We very much look forward to working in partnership with the Bank and the Government to deliver at pace.”