Last edited 29 Apr 2016

The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021

The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 is intended to increase the supply of new shared ownership and affordable homes in England by March 2021.

Published on 13 April 2016 by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), it makes £4.7 billion of funding available to increase the supply of new shared ownership and affordable homes.

In the foreword, Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wrote, "A Shared Ownership home allows the purchaser to buy a share in the equity while paying rent on the non-purchased share. For many people, this is a chance they didn’t have before to get on to the housing ladder – and to go on to purchase further slices of equity. Since 2011, nearly 41,000 affordable homes have been made available through Shared Ownership. Recognising the level of public demand, we want to greatly expand supply."

The £4.7bn of capital grant is intended to provide:

135,000 homes for Help to Buy: Shared Ownership;
10,000 homes for Rent to Buy; and
8,000 homes for supported and older people’s rental accommodation.

However, other than a 5% share of the funding available for specialist accommodation there is no provision for housing for rent. According to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) this “…marks the end of an era for the social housing sector and a decisive government shift towards support for home ownership.” ref Homes for rent dropped from government housing programme.

They suggest that housing associations that continue building for rent will now have to rely on partnership funding or private development finance.

In London, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will manage the scheme, and it is thought that building for rent will continue to be supported.