Posted 01.02.13
The Government is setting out how two new schemes will put up to £10 billion of lending guarantees to work so that investors can expand the private rented sector and build new affordable homes.
Chief Secretary Danny Alexander and Housing Minister Mark Prisk announced they are publishing further details on the guarantee schemes that will use the Government's fiscal credibility to provide property investors with low-cost finance so they can deliver new private rented or affordable housing.
The guarantees were announced in September 2012 to kick-start private investment in the housing sector.
Following consultation with the housing sector, the Government is now setting out eligibility requirements and how the guarantees will be structured in the scheme rules for affordable housing and the scheme rules for private rented housing. It is also publishing an invitation to tender for the running of the schemes.
The guarantees will support new-build projects, located in the United Kingdom. The private rented sector guarantee will back a variety of options to invest in new homes for private rent, from building new homes to converting existing commercial spaces into rental properties.
This will make finance available for projects in any part of the UK that have a minimum value of £10 million. The new homes will have to remain in the private rented sector until the money is paid back.
A separate scheme will be available to support new affordable housing projects, unlocking development for up to 15,000 new homes, on top of the Government's existing house-building programmes.
Posted 01.02.13
Housing Minister Mark Prisk published the final allocation of cash payouts worth £668 million through the New Homes Bonus, which will be shared by England's 353 councils.
The funding will 'reward' councils for delivering over 142,000 new homes, including 58,000 affordable properties, and bringing almost 18,000 long-term empty properties back into use.
The Minister said that encouraging growth was a positive way for councils to raise revenue for their local community. The cash payments are rewarding councils from all parts of the country, with almost a third of the top 30 recipients in the midlands and the north.
This final allocation will be paid in the 2013 to 2014 financial year. It brings payments through the scheme to £1.3 billion. These are allocated through the New Homes Bonus, which was launched in April 2011.
The total payment recognises over 400,000 new builds and conversions, and over 55,000 empty properties that are being lived in once again.
Through the New Homes Bonus, the Government matches the Council Tax raised from new homes for the 6 years. The bonus is also available for reducing the number of long-term empty homes, and there is an additional £350 annual premium for new affordable homes.
Councils should work with their local community to decide how the bonus is spent: whether building more homes, keeping Council Tax down for local residents, boosting frontline services, or providing local facilities.
A full list of allocations of New Homes Bonus for the 2013 to 2014 financial year can be found via this link.
Posted 08.02.13
A Cardiff-based property development company and Wales's largest registered social landlord have unveiled a massive £1 billion finance deal that aims to deliver thousands of new affordable homes in Wales and the West Country.
The ground-breaking initiative brings together Bellerophon Partnerships - which has pioneered innovative funding techniques for affordable housing - and Porthcwlis, a new subsidiary of RCT Homes.
RCT Homes became Wales's largest social landlord when it took over the ownership and management of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council's entire housing stock in December 2007.
Bellerophon and Porthcwlis predict their finance and delivery model will enable the public sector, housing associations and private developers to come together to build up to 11,000 affordable homes in the next seven years without the need for capital grant funding from either the Welsh or UK governments.
The new model has already secured £1 billion of private sector finance.
The shortage of affordable housing is particularly acute in Wales and Bellerophon and Porthcwlis say their model will provide another option for housing organisations to help the Welsh Government to meet its targets over the next few years.
Bellerophon and Porthcwlis say that their model has the potential to unlock two significant sticking points in the Welsh housing market: unused planning obligations and the use of public sector land.
Planning permission for housing developments often includes a stipulation that a proportion should be affordable homes, usually built by housing associations. However, many of these homes remain unbuilt as housing associations cannot find developers willing to build at below market price in an already depressed Welsh housing market without grant subsidy.
Public sector organisations - including local authorities - are among Wales's largest landowners but they too have found it almost impossible to build affordable housing without capital grants. In the whole of Wales in 2011-12, only 35 affordable homes were built on public sector land without the help of government grants.
Posted 19.02.13
Mencap's housing charity, Golden Lane Housing (GLH), has launched a £10 million charity bond which will raise money to buy homes for people with a learning disability.
The GLH bond will be the UK's largest ever unlisted charity bond issue of its kind.
Investors in the bond, which has a minimum investment level of £2,000 per investor, will receive a fixed gross yield of 4% per year for the five-year fixed term.
Working in partnership with Triodos Bank - the UK's leading sustainable bank - the charity is aiming to raise £10 million from a range of social investors for this bond before the closing date of 30 April 2013.
This bond will be the first step in raising up to £30 million over the next few years, which will mean that investors will give a total of 250 people with a learning disability the chance to live independently in specially-adapted homes.
Just 1 in 3 people with a learning disability currently lives independently. Many struggle to compete on the open market, making it virtually impossible to find housing in areas where there is no suitable social housing available.
Recent Mencap research found that 8 in 10 councils in England and Wales report a housing shortage for adults with a learning disability in their areas, with nearly 7 in 10 saying that this has worsened in the last 12 months.
National Empty Homes Loan Fund Update
Posted 21.02.13
The National Empty Homes Loans Fund is close to making its first loans in some of the 13 loans fund pilot areas. In the next few months the fund will go national and be available in every part of England.
The fund will make loans of about £10,000 per dwelling on a low interest rate (currently 5%) to help with the costs of bringing empty property into affordable use.
The loan will be available to private owners, conditional on the property being brought up to the decent homes standard and let at an affordable rent.
Although owners will be able to apply directly to the fund, it is hoped that more local authorities can be involved, so that the fund can be marketed and targeted where it is needed most.
For further details email david.stott@emptyhomes.com.
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Affordable Homes Guarantees Programme Framework Published
Posted 27.02.13
Following publication of the £10 billion Government Guarantee scheme rules, the Homes & Communities Agency has published the Framework for the Affordable Housing element.
As part of this, providers can bid for a share of £225 million of additional funding to deliver more affordable homes.
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Moody's Downgrades Credit Ratings of 26 HAs
Posted 28.02.13
Credit rating agency Moody's has downgraded the credit ratings of 26 housing associations, following its decision to downgrade the UK's rating.
The Agency is also reported to have launched a review of the ability of associations to access 'liquidity support' from the Government in the event of financial trouble. Moody's warned this could result in 'multiple-notch' downgrades of credit ratings.
Moody's also commented on the recent problems encountered by Cosmopolitan and the possibility of social housing assets being protected 'but the leaseholders.... forced to absorb a financial loss'. The Agency added that this 'would set a clear precedent that not all liabilities of housing associations necessarily benefit from the implicit support of Government'. The implications being that 'a somewhat weaker regulatory framework' could result.
