G15 responds to the national Budget

Responding to the announcement of the national Budget and three-year Spending Review, Geeta Nanda OBE, Chair of the G15 and Chief Executive of MTVH, commented:

“We welcome the confirmation that investment in new affordable homes will be maintained and the increase in the National Living Wage will directly benefit many of our residents. Alongside the £800m commitment to support decarbonisation of social housing, it is good to see that the government has listened to our calls for action on these key issues.

“However, today is a missed opportunity to have put in place a comprehensive solution to the building safety crisis. G15 members are expecting to spend £3.6bn on building safety works, which is the equivalent to the investment needed to deliver 72,000 new affordable homes. We urgently need access to an expanded Building Safety Fund on the same terms as private for-profit companies, and the removal of VAT from remediation works would support works to be delivered more quickly. This systemic crisis can only be tackled by the government giving leaseholders the full protection from costs they need, and by recovering costs from the developers and contractors responsible for the failures that have led us to this point.”

• £1.8bn brownfield redevelopment fund:

“We urgently need to be building more new affordable homes to tackle the housing crisis, so further investment to deliver new homes is very welcome. Development on brownfield sites can have fantastic benefits for regenerating an area, but we know there simply isn’t enough of this land to deliver the scale of new homes that are needed alone. Well planned development with infrastructure to support it is desperately needed across the country and we need to ensure the planning and site allocation system support this.”

• Confirmation of £11.5bn for the Affordable Homes Programme:

“The confirmation of the next Affordable Homes Programme is extremely welcome. Both in London and across the country, G15 members are delivering thousands of new affordable homes through the existing AHP and the commitment the government has shown to long-term funding for affordable housing delivery will help give the sector the certainty it needs to drive projects forward. Clearly, there is far more to do to build the scale of new affordable homes that are need to tackle the housing crisis, but this is welcome news all the same.”

• Introduction of a Residential Property Developer Tax to partly fund certain building safety works:

“It’s absolutely right that this tax is introduced to part fund certain building safety works. It is also right that it does not limit the supply of affordable housing and we are pleased the government has listened to the G15’s calls for not-for-profit provers to be exempt. However, the £2bn the tax seeks to raise over the next 10 years is far below what the true cost of tackling the building safety crisis will be and we urgently need a more comprehensive solution that protects leaseholders and ensures those responsible for the mistakes fund works.”

• Lack of a comprehensive announcement on building safety funding:

“Today is a massive missed opportunity for the government to have put in place a comprehensive solution to the building safety crisis. G15 members are expecting to spend £3.6bn on building safety works and urgently need access to an expanded Building Safety Fund on the same terms as private for-profit companies. The systemic crisis can only be tackled by the government giving leaseholders the full protection from costs they need, and recovering costs from the developers and contractors responsible for the failures that have led us to this point.”

• National Living Wage increase:

“The increase in the National Living Wage is very much welcomed and will benefit thousands of our residents. The cost of living crunch is really hitting household budgets, so any boost is welcomed, but it is disappointing that the Universal Credit uplift has not been fully replaced. We know the next few months are going to be extremely hard for many of our residents and G15 members are committed to providing support and advice to any of our residents who need it.”

• Decarbonisation of social housing:

“The £800m additional investment for decarbonisation of social housing will pump-prime progress and is something the G15 has long called for. Of course, meeting the total cost of achieving net zero is going to take much larger commitments right across public, private, and government institutions, alongside clearer guidance, but this is an important step forward.”

• Levelling-Up:

“As organisations that operate across the country, G15 members understand the need to invest in all regions to boost access to opportunities and to help more people to live well. People, no matter where they live, deserve such chances, including communities in London who are experiencing the highest rates of unemployment in the country and where housing costs take up the largest proportion of household budgets. We can’t allow the levelling-up debate to become a region versus region conflict, and we need to instead recognise the interconnected nature of our economy that needs to work for everyone’s benefit.”