Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support community-led developments; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the funding available for such schemes.

The government recognises that community-led housing delivers a wide range of benefits, including additional housing supply, empowering communities, achieving high quality design and strengthening the co-operative economy.

A range of funding sources are available to support the development of community-led housing, although eligibility will depend on the nature of specific developments. This includes the Levelling-Up Home Building Fund, which provides affordable loan finance for the development of sites of five units or more, and the Affordable Homes Programme, which provides grant funding to support the capital costs of developing affordable housing in England.

Beyond funding, the revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December 2024 strengthened support for community-led housing, including through changes to the size limit on community-led exception sites and a broadening of the definition of organisations able to deliver community-led housing.

As part of the development of our Long Term Housing Strategy, we are considering how the government may further support the growth of the community-led housing sector and I recently met with the Chief Executive of the Community Land Trust Network and other stakeholders to discuss options in that regard.