Social Housing

Housing Associations continue to be well supported by Homes England in terms of grant for both affordable renting and shared ownership. Most developing Housing Associations have very ambitious targets for development but the generous grant which has been available for the last couple of years in the latest settlement has helped considerably. The Housing Associations are likely to be supported in the future particularly if there is general downtown in speculative housing.

Special needs housing is undergoing a considerable change and there is a great deal of private sector capital being introduced. Such schemes tend to be supported by fairly high rentals often underpinned by housing benefit and guarantees from Social Service departments. This ensures that other schemes are to a good standard. Certainly, regarding the funding of special needs and extra care are partly removed by the ending of the last review so a number of these are progressing. Most are for affordable rented purposes because shared ownership remains problematical except in a few locations.