A further £24 million is being injected immediately into building more new affordable homes in Wales, housing minister, Julie James has announced today (February 17).
The additional funding will help accelerate the Welsh Government’s programme to provide 20,000 more affordable homes across Wales by 2021, by giving an immediate funding boost to shovel-ready schemes across the country.
The minister unveiled that 13,143 of the 20,000 new homes have already been delivered (up to end of March 2019). This includes 2,592 affordable housing units delivered across Wales in 2018/19, 12% higher than 2017/18 and the highest annual total to date.
This additional injection of funding will see £6 million in general capital funding allocated to the Social Housing Grant (SHG) programme, which plays a critical role in increasing the supply of both new social and intermediate housing. This will help build an additional 70 new homes across Wales.
This is in addition to the extra £50 million allocated as part of the capital investment package announced in June 2019, bringing the total allocation to the SHG grant programme to £127.2 million in 2019/20.
In addition, £17.8 million in financial transactional capital (loans) is being made to the Help to Buy Wales and Property Loan schemes.
Help to Buy Wales has already exceeded its target of supporting 6,000 people to buy a new home during this term of government, achieving over 6,500 completions as of September 30, 2019.
Julie said: “Ensuring everyone can have a good quality, affordable home is my number one priority as Wales’ housing minister. I’m pleased to be able to report we are on track to deliver the 20,000 new affordable homes we promised as part of our Programme for Government – with 65% of homes already delivered.
“But we want to build more homes, at pace, and at scale. The additional investment I am announcing today will help us meet that pledge, helping to boost the construction sector and ensuring people have the home they need, which supports a healthy, successful and prosperous life,” she added.
“By the end of this current term of government, we will have invested more than £2 billion in housing across Wales – a clear indication of the importance we attached to delivering more good-quality homes, which are the bedrock of good communities and form the basis for individuals and families to flourish in all aspects of their lives.”
The funding is part of the Welsh Government’s second supplementary budget for this current financial year (2019/20). It sees an additional £108 million in capital funding being invested in the Welsh Government’s key priorities.
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