Government's Affordable Homes Grant funding can now be used to fund replacement homes as part of estate regeneration plans. Will Brent Council apply?

This announcement from Homes England is likely to make a major impact in Brent if the Council makes a successful bid.

Homes England has today announced that grant funding provided through the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 can now be used to fund replacement homes, alongside new affordable homes, as part of wider estate regeneration plans.

This means that the housing and regeneration agency can better support its partners to replace housing that is outdated and no longer fit-for-purpose, with a larger number of high-quality, energy efficient new affordable homes.

Housing Minister Rachel Maclean said:

We remain committed to building the affordable homes this country needs and a key part of this is improving the quality and supply of social housing.  

The changes I am announcing today will unlock more affordable housing by ensuring we replace old homes with ones that are fit for the future. This is absolutely critical in helping us regenerate communities, speed up housing delivery and provide high-quality homes for more families.

I’ll continue to work with Homes England and developers to get delivering through this scheme as quickly as possible.

Peter Denton, Chief Executive of Homes England, said:

The affordable housing sector has always had to balance the investment it makes in existing homes with the investment in makes in building new homes. Over the past year, increasing financial pressures have made achieving that balance even more difficult to manage.

This change is something the sector has been calling for, and with it there is a real opportunity to accelerate the regeneration of social housing and help level up communities across the country.

We’ll be working quickly to make this funding available to ensure partners can get the maximum benefit from this change, and are ready to use all of the tools, capacity and capability we have available to us to support delivery. We encourage all affordable housing providers and local authorities to come and talk to us as early as possible if they need support to develop their proposals – we’re here to help.

This change to the Affordable Homes Programme has been agreed with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and is part of the Agency’s wider efforts to help bolster the affordable housing sector and maintain housing supply.

It also aligns with the agency’s five-year strategic plan, published in May, which clarifies its mandate to drive regeneration and housing delivery to create high quality homes and thriving places across England.

Grant funding for estate regeneration is available to partners looking to replace existing homes with new affordable homes and build additional new affordable homes. Grant funding from the Affordable Homes Programme is also still available to those looking to only build new affordable homes. Providers can apply through Homes England’s continuous market engagement route, while existing Strategic Partners will be able to use grant already allocated to them.

The change will come into effect immediately and funding decisions will be made on a regular basis up until the end of March 2025, subject to availability of funding. Homes England is keen to see proposals that can deliver at pace, maximise the number of new affordable homes, and enhance wider efforts to level up and regenerate communities. All schemes must start on site by 31 March 2025 and will need to complete within the Affordable Homes Programme’s current timeframes.

London Assembly: Residents should have final say and ballot on estate regeneration

The London Assembly is asking the Mayor to hear Londoner’s voices and give them more power to decide where and when regeneration should take place in their areas.

A motion, agreed today, called on the Mayor to include this commitment in his final Good Practice Guide, urging him to make London a place where neighbourhoods are designed to answer communities’ needs.

Sian Berry AM, who proposed the motion, said:

The Assembly has called today for something all estate residents should have: a final say on what will happen to their homes and communities.

 Full consultation is vital and a ballot over any major plan to remodel their estates is the only way to make sure councils and housing associations don’t fudge these processes.

The Mayor’s commitment that ‘estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support, based on full and transparent consultation’ was clear and we are calling now for him to keep his promise to Londoners.

 Tom Copley AM, who seconded the motion, said:

I’m pleased that the Mayor is insisting that there must be no net loss of social housing on estate regeneration schemes in his draft Good Practice Guide. However, I want him to go further by including ballots of residents whose homes face demolition. Balloting is a vital way of ensuring residents have a meaningful say over future plans for their homes and is the best way to ensure a regeneration scheme has legitimacy.

Wherever demolition is an option, there must be a commitment to balloting residents, particularly where a sizeable number of residents have made a request for a ballot.

Through his Good Practice Guide, we now want to see the Mayor working with community groups to develop detailed guidance about a host of issues, such as when ballots take place, who participates and how differences in opinions between residents may be resolved.

The full text of the Motion is:

This Assembly notes that the Mayor’s Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration is due to be published soon which will set out key principles to be followed in estate regeneration projects.

This Assembly also notes the Mayor’s manifesto commitment that estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support, based on full and transparent consultation.

This Assembly believes that a final say for residents is an important way to ensure that resident involvement in plans for their homes is done in a meaningful way throughout the process.

This Assembly therefore urges the Mayor to recommend in his final Good Practice Guide that ballots are used on all schemes where demolition is an option or to include clear guidance that ballots will be guaranteed where a proportion of residents ask for it. Ballots should extend to private renters from non-resident leaseholders and freeholders on estates.

See this photographic essay for an example of an estate that is due to be regenerated LINK

Put the Mayor right on Estate Regeneration March 30th Stonebridge Hub

The invitation below has been issued to Brent residents by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, but his 'Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration' has been criticised LINK LINK, not least by the Green Party AM Sian Berry.

INVITATION - HAVE YOUR SAY ON ESTATE REGENERATION

On behalf of the Mayor of London we would like to invite Brent residents to a meeting to discuss the future of estate regeneration in London.

30 March - 6.30pm-7.45pm - Stonebridge Hub, 6 Hillside, NW10 8BN

The Mayor is currently consulting on a draft 'Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration' which sets out how estate regeneration projects in London should be run.

The meeting will be an opportunity to hear more about the draft Good Practice Guide and share your views on it. More information about the guide is available on the Greater London Authority's website

All residents in Brent with an interest in estate regeneration are very welcome to attend. If you know of anyone who may be interested in attending the meeting please share this invitation with them.

Please reserve your place and let us know if you plan to attend by:

·  Online - via eventbrite

·  Phone: 0800 612 2182.

·  Email: erguideconsultation@thecampaigncompany.co.uk

For further information and inquiries please call Amy or Pancho on 0800 612 2182 or email erguideconsultation@thecampaigncompany.co.uk

Sian Berry, Green Party Assembly Member for London has criticised the Mayor's guidance on estate regeneration:

The draft guidance gives no reassurance that the Mayor’s pledge to estate residents will be fulfilled. The document is very unclear how, in practical terms, councils and landlords need to act in order to qualify for Greater London Authority (GLA) funding, or to win the Mayor’s support for planning applications. 

Worse, it is almost useless as a resource for residents who want to hold their councils and landlords to account, take part in developing and putting forward positive new ideas to improve their areas or have a meaningful say in whether their homes are demolished. 

It doesn’t define transparency or include any measureable goals – not even one that says it aims to reduce the number of homes demolished as the Mayor has promised.

These failings are so severe that this draft guidance document needs rewriting from scratch. The Mayor’s team should work with estate residents to ensure their homes are protected from demolition, their views are respected and their ideas enabled by the final guidance.

Berry's full response can be found HERE

Sadiq Khan's estate regeneration guidance 'worse than useless' claims Sian Berry, Green AM

West Hendon residents put up terrific resistance to social cleansing by Barratts and Barnet Council

From Sian Berry, Green Party London Assembly Member

The Mayor’s manifesto pledge to estate residents will be broken unless his estate guidance is rewritten from scratch.

That’s my verdict on Sadiq Khan’s ‘good practice guide to estate regeneration’ for councils and landlords on how to handle estate regeneration. The document is out for consultation until 14 March and it’s vital Londoners respond to it to say it’s not good enough – see how to send in your comments in just a few minutes here.

My full response to the draft guidance says it is worse than useless – it rips up the Mayor’s manifesto promise that ‘estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support’ and does nothing to ensure residents on estates can block demolition of their homes.

The language in the draft is vague and it is unclear what, if any, conditions will be imposed on how councils and landlords to qualify for funding or the Mayor’s support for planning applications.
Most importantly for residents, the Mayor plans to break his promise and not let them make the final decisions for their estates or say there should be an independent ballot. How can they trust any part of the engagement process when they know their views and plans can be completely ignored at the end?

I say the guidance needs to be rewritten from scratch, working with Londoners to get it right.

My response to the draft guidance outlines three key demands on the Mayor that Londoners should ask for:

1. No demolitions without an independent ballot
2. Clear conditions for councils to meet, or no GLA funding
3. Expert support for resident-led plans

I ask for full transparency on the current state of estates, and on all aspects of the business case, social and environmental impacts of council’s plans.

The final guidance also needs to set measurable goals so the Mayor can be held to account, including goals to reduce the number of homes demolished and for a number of resident-led plans to be adopted.

Tell the Mayor what you think by 14 March