A summary of the recent funding announcements for Registered Providers and Local Authorities
Homes England and the Government have recently provided updates on some of the funding programmes and financial assistance which is to be made available to housing providers and local authorities, including a major update on the new 10 year Social and Affordable Homes Programme (“SAHP”).
Published: February 25th, 2026
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Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-2036
On the 12th February 2026 Homes England confirmed that the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) 2026-2036 will open for bidding from Wednesday 24 February 2026.
From this date, registered providers will be able to apply for grant funding through the £39bn programme, which is looking to deliver 300,000 homes over 10 years, with 60% of those being for social rent.
Homes England have confirmed that any bids made at this time must contain homes that can start on site by 31 March 2028 and be able to complete by 31 March 2032.
Successful bidders will be expected to demonstrate a range of evidence as part of their bid, including a successful track record of delivery, organisational capacity to deliver, how they are meeting regulatory requirements, board approval for the bid and other funding certainty.
As was previously confirmed by Homes England, the SAHP will offer two routes through which providers can seek grant funding, which includes, for the first time, a portfolio continuous market engagement (“CME”) option. This option will allow bidders to deliver homes across multiple sites at once and in recent guidance Homes England has said it expects between 300 and 500 new social and affordable homes will be delivered using this model.
Potential bidders will need to be aware that whilst bidding through the strategic partnership funding route will close on 15 April 2026, the CME option will allows applicants to bid for funding for one (or more) development schemes at any time during the programme, subject to funding being available.
If you would like more information on the details of what we know about the SAHP so far, a link to a previous article breaking down the prospectus which was released in November 2025 is below.
Social Housing Funding Boost
On the 28th January 2026 the Housing Secretary announced plans for a new Social Housing Funding Boost which will give councils, registered providers, and other housing providers greater financial support to help with the construction and delivery of new homes.
This funding will aim to accelerate social and affordable housebuilding and deliver on the Government’s plans to hit their housing targets, as well as to bring down the numbers of families and children stuck in temporary accommodation or on housing waiting lists.
Some of the key measures announced by the Housing Secretary as part of this funding boost include:
£2.5 billion in loans being made available to Registered Providers at just 0.1% interest;
£3.5 million to be allocated through the Council Housebuilding Support Fund, allowing Councils to construct and deliver thousands more council homes;
The Housing Revenue Account threshold (a ringfenced account for income and spending on councils’ own housing stock) will be increased from 200 to 1,000 homes;
The discounted borrowing rate for Council housebuilding from the Government’s lending facility, the Public Works Loan Board, will be extended.
A new social housing taskforce will be formed which will hold the industry to account on delivery of new homes.
Additional emergency measures will be put in place aiming to revitalise the section 106 market.
These recent funding updates and announcements would seem to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to accelerate and ensure the delivery of affordable housing in the wake of the 1.5 million housing target set at the outset of the Government’s term and the Housing Secretary’s target to provide hundreds of thousands of affordable homes for families priced out of homeownership.
For further information please contact Jacob McGrath
