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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage partnerships between (a) councils, (b) housing associations and (c) community-led housing groups through matched funding or shared risk models.

As set out in our five-step plan for delivering a decade of renewal for the social and affordable housing, we are committed to strengthening social housing providers’ financial capacity to deliver new homes, including through our new ten-year, £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

We also encourage providers to explore opportunities to extend their financial capacity further, and to enable delivery in sensitive, rural areas, by working together to deliver new homes through joint ventures.

Where advice on how to make best use of these arrangements is required, councils, housing associations, and community led-housing groups outside of London can reach out to Homes England’s Self Commissioned Homes Delivery Unit. Councils in England can also seek specialist advice on all aspects of housing delivery from the Local Government Association’s Council Housebuilding Support Service.