National Housing Bank launches in bid to accelerate delivery of new homes and mixed-use schemes

A subsidiary of Homes England, the bank is “a new government public finance institution with the authority and ambition to accelerate the delivery of new homes and communities, whilst also enabling the regeneration of towns and cities across England”.

It is expected to support the delivery of more than 500,000 homes and regeneration and mixed-use schemes, alongside helping to unlock more than £53 billion of private investment over the next ten years.

Homes England’s prospectus is meanwhile intended to represent a single, authoritative statement of how it will invest to deliver housing and regeneration.

The agency said: “With the bank at its core, the Investment Prospectus brings together for the first time Homes England’s full range of capital products, land, powers and technical expertise in one public document – making it easier for local leaders and partner organisations to understand the role the Agency and the National Housing Bank can play in delivering their pipeline of housing and mixed-use schemes.”

Ahead of the launch, Homes England unveiled the first investment backed by the National Housing Bank, a £100 million partnership with Aviva.

The objective of the partnership is to build up to 3,300 homes for rent in underinvested areas of cities, including an initial 300 in Liverpool and Manchester.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed said: “Launching England’s first ever National Housing Bank underpins a new way of doing things as we accelerate housebuilding at scale and tackle the housing crisis head on.

“Now open for business, the Bank will rake in billions of pounds of essential private investment to get spades in the ground for half a million new homes. This is just one of the many levers we’re pulling to make sure we reach our 1.5 million target this Parliament.”

Homes England Chair Pat Ritchie said: “The opening of the National Housing Bank and launch of the Investment Prospectus build on Homes England’s expertise at providing a wide range of finance to partners and places to unlock the delivery of new housing and mixed-use schemes.

“The National Housing Bank directly responds to calls from the housing sector, mayors and local leaders to increase the scale and flexibility of available public and private finance for housing and regeneration, to build the homes and communities our county needs.”

Harry Rodd