Homes England Launches Five-Year Strategic Plan

Homes England has launched its next five-year Strategic Plan to deliver quality, affordable homes and regenerating towns and cities.

The plan by the Government’s housing and regeneration agency sets out how it will support communities and families by enabling the delivery of more good quality, affordable homes alongside the regeneration of towns and cities across England.

The plan is supported by £16 billion of Government funding, with sustainability, decency and good design as a focus. The plan sets out how the Agency can work with its partners can deliver a revitalised built environment across England that serves the needs of all communities.

The plan also commits Homes England to working in a more place-based way, tailoring its powers, funding, expertise and technical capacity to the specific challenges faced in different parts of the England.

The plan has five objectives, including supporting the creation of vibrant and successful places that people can be proud of, working with local leaders and other partners to deliver housing-led mixed-use regeneration with a brownfield-first approach; facilitating the creation of the homes people need, intervening where necessary to ensure places have enough homes of the right type and tenure; and building a housing and regeneration sector that works for everyone, driving diversification, partnership working, and innovation.

The other aims are to promote the creation of high-quality homes in well-designed places that reflect community priorities by taking an inclusive and long-term approach and enable sustainable homes and places, maximising their positive contribution to the natural environment and minimising their environmental impact.

Chair of Homes England, Peter Freeman, said: "There is no doubt that housing plays an enormous role in the wellbeing and prosperity of our country. As an Agency, we firmly believe that affordable, quality homes in well-designed places are key to improving people’s lives. And our updated strategic plan has been designed to enable us to deliver against that.

"Over the next five years, we will continue to work with housebuilders of all shapes and sizes to boost housing supply. But we will also focus on the places those homes sit in, working ever more closely with local leaders and other partners to build communities as well as housing, be it through housing-led, mixed-use regeneration or new settlements.

"This is a pivotal moment for Homes England as we reaffirm our role as the Government’s housing and regeneration agency and go even further in helping to create the thriving places of the future."

Rachel Maclean, minister for housing, said: "Creating high-quality and sustainable homes that people can be proud of is an absolute priority for this Government. We continue to work with partners and developers to facilitate a brownfield-first approach to meet local housing needs for local people.

"That is why we are supporting Homes England’s Strategic Plan which will help deliver the affordable, well-designed homes the country needs, in the places people want them."

Source: Government Business