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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 14 May 2020 to Question HL3740, what assessment he has made of level of resources required to secure delivery of the over 10,000 affordable homes supported through the Community Housing Fund that can be delivered relatively quickly once capital funding is made available; if he will make it his policy to provide bridging funding to enable those projects that are ready to be delivered to get on site by the Autumn; and if he will make a statement.

The level of resources required to deliver all of the community-led housebuilding schemes currently within the Homes England Community Housing Fund Programme will depend on a range of factors including: the amount of funding already received as pre-development revenue grant; the tenure mix (including market sale or rent) and local variations in the build costs of individual schemes.

Recent data from Homes England indicates an average capital grant allocation of £48,000 per unit and a further revenue grant requirement of £3,500 per unit.

As at May 2020, the Homes England programme has current applications for schemes anticipating the delivery of 10,780 homes, including 4,347 homes from applications that have already been allocated revenue or capital funding (or both).

The total grant requirement to deliver the 10,780 homes within the Homes England programme is therefore likely to be approximately £555 million, of which £12.3 million has already been paid in revenue grant and £2.5 million paid in capital grant.

The Community Housing Fund closed at the end of March. Where they are appropriately constituted and registered as providers of social housing (Registered Provider), community groups may apply for capital funding from the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP). Those which are not registered may apply in partnership with a Registered Provider.