Following the Prime Minister's promise to "Build, Build,
Build", the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak
presented his "Plan for Jobs" to Parliament on Wednesday 8 July to
outline how the government will boost job creation in the UK in
response to the Coronavirus crisis.
Included in a raft of measures was an announcement of a £50
million Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
The Government will establish a new Social Housing
Decarbonisation Fund to help social landlords improve the least
energy-efficient social rented homes, starting with a £50 million
demonstrator project in 2020-21 to decarbonise social housing.
Details and timescales for the Scheme are sketchy at this stage
but it is understood that the application process may mirror the
recent "Whole House Retrofit Grant
Competition" run by the Department for Business, Energy
& Industrial Strategy (BEIS) - the awards for which were
announced on 29 June 2020.
The Chancellor's announcement also confirmed the £12.2 billion
Affordable Homes Programme announced in the Budget will support up
to 180,000 new affordable homes for ownership and rent in England
and that the £12.2 billion will be spent over five years, with the
majority of homes built by 2025-26 and the rest by 2028-29.
The Affordable Homes Programme will also include a 1,500 homes
pilot of "First Homes" but no detail was given as to the number of
social rented homes that will be delivered through the
Programme.
Read the Chancellor's Speech and the
accompanying supporting documents.