Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps he plans to take to support people wanting to form or live in a housing co-operative; and if he will make a statement.

The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector – of which housing co-operatives are an important part – offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping to increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help to deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.

The principal way in which the Government supported the community-led housebuilding sector in England in recent years was through the Community Housing Fund, making available £163 million in grants over 2018/19 and 2019/20. Budgets for future years will be considered at the Spending Review later this year. Community-led housebuilding organisations that are registered as providers of social housing may seek capital funding from the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes programme operated outside London by Homes England.