Homes England has unveiled its National Housing Bank with an inaugural £100m housebuilding initiative with Aviva, and an Investment Prospectus which sets out the Agency’s aims to deliver over half a million homes “where market failures exist.”
The National Housing Bank is a “new government public finance institution with the authority and ambition to accelerate the delivery of new homes and communities, whilst also enabling the regeneration of towns and cities across England,” said the Ministry of Housing.
Set up in Leeds as a subsidiary of Homes England, the National Housing Bank “will work with housebuilders, developers, investors and registered providers to deploy up to £16bn of debt, equity and guarantees.” The bank will also work with Mayors through Homes England’s new regional model to “strengthen collaborative working with partners and leaders.”
The Ministry of Housing hopes the Bank will “support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes and a raft of major regeneration and mixed-use schemes,” as well as “unlocking more than £53bn of private investment over the next 10 years.”
The Investment Prospectus is claimed to be a “single, authoritative statement of how invests to deliver homes and regeneration.” The document “brings together for the first time Homes England’s full range of capital products, land, powers and technical expertise in one public document,” making it easier for “local leaders and partner organisations to understand the role the Agency and the National Housing Bank can play.”
It launches with the announcement that Homes England has contracted a new £100m partnership with Aviva. Its “lifetime objective” is to build “up to 3,300 well designed and sustainable homes for rent in underinvested areas of cities,” with an initial 300 in Liverpool and Manchester.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said:
“Launching England’s first ever National Housing Bank underpins a new way of doing things as we accelerate housebuilding at scale and tackle the housing crisis head on.
“This is just one of the many levers we’re pulling to make sure we reach our 1.5 million target this Parliament.”
Homes England chair Pat Ritchie said:
“The National Housing Bank directly responds to calls from the housing sector, mayors and local leaders to increase the scale and flexibility of available public and private finance for housing and regeneration, to build the homes and communities our county needs.”
Amy Rees, chief executive of Homes England, said:
“The Investment Prospectus is explicit about the challenges facing the housing system, including affordability, viability, stalled land, constrained finance and delivery risk. Homes England and the National Housing Bank will step in where those market failures exist and help unlock delivery at pace.
“Our message to partners and investors is a simple one: please get in touch and talk to us. We are open for business and are committed to shaping the right solutions for a place or project.”